


Undertale 2: Forgiven

by Alex13Creations



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-12
Updated: 2019-06-12
Packaged: 2020-05-01 19:04:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 21
Words: 44,643
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19183828
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Alex13Creations/pseuds/Alex13Creations
Summary: Happy endings don't always come easy. Monsters in the Underground know that better than most. Especially when it comes to humans: their history, their fate, and how they Act. But if there's anything that monsters have to learn, it's that the actions of one human do not define the Mercy of another...Takes place after Undertale's in-game Genocide Route





	1. Chapter 1

His stroll to the top of the mountain was a quiet one...

 

He let out a long sigh. His steps were heavy up the beaten path leading to the summit. Hands in his coat and eyes looking down at his shoes, it was obvious to any observer that he had something on his mind. His frown was deep. He looked unhappy. About what though, he wouldn't say...

 

He reached the top of the mountain. He hopped in a half-circle, walking backwards, looking out at the forest below. It was a beautiful scene. The sun was low in the sky; orange and purple-ish streaks of light filled the top half of this beautiful landscape. He took it in with a sigh, his deep brown eyes sparkling, reflecting the scenery back onto itself.

 

His foot caught on a jagged rock, and he fell...

 

 

 

 

**Darkness.**

 

He groaned in pain, clutching his right leg. The scenery was gone now. It was replaced by dark cave walls. He laid on his side of a patch of golden flowers, breathing in shaky, unsteady volumes. "I will not go into shock. I will not go into shock." He repeated to himself firmly. He breathed out slowly, then pushed himself up onto his feet.

 

He took in his surroundings. Around him: dark walls. Below him: a bed of golden flowers. Above him: the sunset sky above. He called for help a few times, with no answer in return. In front of him: another cave opening, and the frame of a large door. He made his way towards it, limping slowly on his right leg.

 

A yellow flower popped out of the ground in front of him. He flinched in surprise; it had risen to meet him. It even had a welcoming smile on its face. "Hi there!" It said cheerfully. A talking flower? He knelt down in front of it as the flower continued.

 

"I'm Flowey! Flowey the flower!" He said cheefully. "Uh...hi there...Flowey. I'm Alex." The human introduced himself. "Deelighted to meet ya! I'm guessin' you're new here to the Underground, ain't ya?" Flowey asked with a bit of a sly grin. Alex nodded. "Yeah. I fell down this hole. Pretty sure my leg's messed up." Alex summarized briefly. He sighed.

 

"Well golly, sounds like you're in a real pickle" Flowey said, his smile sinking into a frown of concern. "I can help you out with your leg though!" Flowey offered. Alex, only half attention to Flowey, stood up carefully, pulling out an iPhone from his pocket. "Ugh. No service, of course. My friggin carrier sucks, man." He complained to Flowey, whose eyebrow was raised in mild frustration.

 

"Hey. I said I can help you with your leg, buddy." Flowey repeated himself. Alex pocketed his phone. "Sorry. You say you can help my leg?" Flowey nodded with a smile. "Yes I can. You want my help, right?" Flowey asked, grinning slyly again, almost playfully. Alex nodded. "I'd appreciate that very much." "Well alright then!"

 

Alex's surroundings grew darker, almost to a point of appearing black and white. Flowey smiled again, as if this were all completely normal to him. A light gray heart appeared over the left side of Alex's chest, over his shirt and coat like a virtual projection. Alex's eyebrows furrowed, and he stared down at the heart in confusion.

 

"What's going on, Flowey?" Flowey simply smiled at Alex. "Relax buddy. That's your SOUL right there. It represents you and all that you are. When you engage with someone the way we are right now, it'll appear. Now, to heal your leg up, I'm gonna give you a lil' somethin' very common down here in the Underground: friendship pellets! These will heal ya right up! Just run into them. Kay? Kay!"

 

Little cylindrical pellets appeared from behind Flowey, and he shot them in Alex's direction. Closer they came. Alex felt a cold shiver down his spine. He felt uncomfortable. The pellets came closer. Alex got shaky. Something felt wrong. Something felt off.

 

Alex hopped out of the way of the pellets.

 

Flowey's frown of concern returned. "Heya buddy heheh, ya missed them. Something wrong? Heheh..." Alex's eyes scanned the cave in rapid glances. "I'mma have to back out of this, Flowey. Something doesn't feel right." Alex said. Flowey raised an eyebrow, but chuckled again awkwardly. "Come on, buddy, don't'cha trust me?" Flowey insisted. "It's not a matter of trust, it just feels weird." Alex answered.

 

"That's okay, buddy. Why don't we just try again?" Flowey said slowly. He fired more pellets at Alex. He hopped out of the way again.

 

Flowey's expression darkened. His face turned much uglier and much more sinister. "You're playing me, aren't you? You know exactly what's going on here, don't'cha? You just wanted to see me suffer..." Pellets appeared all around Alex, surrounding him. "'Oh, I don't know where I am. I'm hurt. I don't want your bullets, Flowey. They're weird, keheheh.' Die!" Flowey screeched. The bullets closed in on Alex.

 

And then suddenly they disappeared. A ball of fire hit Flowey, and he disappeared under the ground with a quick screech of pain. Alex's SOUL disappeared, and his surroundings normalized. In front of him, he noticed what looked to be a goat in a purple dress/robe of sorts with long white sleeves. The goat shook its head at where Flowey had been.

 

 

"Shame on that creature, tormenting someone unable to defend himself." She scolded in a calm, almost motherly, soothing voice. The goat lady turned to Alex, studying him.

 

Alex looked to be a late teen, or perhaps in his early twenties. He had on a blue shirt, a green militaru style jacket with an attached hoodie, black jeans, and black running shoes. He didn't look like someone who frequented trips up the mountain. He had short black hair, lightly tanned skin, and shimmering deep brown eyes.

 

 

Though Alex could only see discomfort and uncertainty in her eyes, deep inside she was making a decision: would she help this human, or leave him to fend for himself? Her first judgment was to leave him, and understandably so, considering her last encounter with a human. However, the way those brown eyes kept piercing through her, she knew the human needed help, and it would pain her conscience far more to leave him for dead...

 

 

She forced a kind smile. "Are you alright?" He nodded slowly. "Yeah, yeah I'm fine... I'm sorry, I can't help but notice that you're a goat, and that was a talking flower earlier." She chuckled politely. "Yes." She eyed his bent right leg. "Are you hurt?" "Yeah. I messed up my right leg when I fell." She walked to him, holding out her palms to his leg. An aura emitted from her palms and entered his leg.

 

 

Good as new, Alex moved is leg around. "And now it feels fine." He said, shaking his head quickly. "Thank you." He said. She smiled. "You're welcome. What is your name, child?" She asked habitually, biting her tongue back after asking the question. "I'm Alex, ma'am. And you are?" "I am Toriel. I watch over these Ruins, and occasionally check for fallen humans...

 

"...against my better judgement." She added softly.

 

"Well. it was a good thing you showed up here when you did. Getting killed by a flower would have been embarrassing. Alex said with a small smile. Toriel chuckled lightly. "Come child, I will lead you through the Ruins."

 

 

 

 

 

As the pair came closer to Toriel's home, after she had navigated them through puzzles and the maze-like structure of the Ruins, Toriel began to ask Alex a few questions.

 

"How'd you come to fall down here?" "I was walking up the mountain and my foot caught on a rock or something, and I fell backwards." Alex described. "What were you doing coming up the mountain?" "I was just strolling. I needed to clear my head." "And what are you gonna do now?"

 

Before Alex could answer, they reached her home. Inside, Alex was hit with a sweet but unfamiliar smell, and it welcomed him graciously. "Make yourself at home. There's a room down the hall, second door on the left, that you can rest in." Toriel offered with a gesture of her hand. Alex nodded and went to the room, tossing his jacket aside and napping on the bed in the room...

 

**4 Hours Later...**

 

Alex woke up with a start. He'd had a bad dream. He got up and exited the room, walking down the hall to the living room. Toriel was sitting by her fireplace, reading a book filled with, apparently, random snail facts. She lifted her head and smiled pleasantly as Alex entered the living room. He returned the smile, which put her slightly more at ease.

 

"Did you rest well, Alex?" "Yeah. Thanks." "I have some pie ready. I took out of the oven just a little while ago. Butterscotch pie. Would you like a piece?" She offered him. "I suppose. I've never had pie before." Alex answered. "Never had pie?" Toriel closed her book, led Alex into the kitchen, and sat him down at the kitchen table, serving a slice of her Butterscotch pie. Alex took a bite and nodded approvingly.

 

"This is good. Really sweet, but also really good." Alex reviewed. Toriel nodded, sitting across the table from him. She watched him at silently, her expression slowly sinking. He finished his slice of pie, all the while aware of the fact that Toriel was watching him. Alex pushed the empty plate and fork away from him once he was done. Finally, Toriel mustered up the courage to ask the question she'd had on her mind.

 

"When are you gonna be leaving?" Toriel asked suddenly.

 

Alex tapped his fingers on the table. "As soon as possible. I appreciate your honesty, truly, but I can't stay here." "I know. Part of me had hoped you would, but I'm sure you have something, or someone, to get back to." Toriel presumed. Alex nodded. "Yes. Someone very special is probably worried sick about me right now." Alex said. Toriel nodded. "I understand...

 

"Hover, I still have to strongly urge you against leaving the Ruins. Others have fallen before you. and they all were killed...except one." "One survived?" "His name was Frisk. He came, he fell, just like the others. But...well, a lot of people...actually, everyone died during his quest back to the surface...including me." Toriel admitted.

 

Alex's eyes widened. "I don't know how we're all alive again, but I assume it has everything to do with you falling down here. A lot of monsters probably still harbor resent against humans; they likely well remember Frisk's actions. The ones that aren't afraid of you will likelier still want to kill you." Toriel finished.

 

Alex shook his head sadly, but repeated again without hesitation: "I can't stay here." Toriel nodded, and agreed to the exit out of the Ruins. Alex's guilt gnawed at him. He even considered offering to staylittle longer, but he knew that he couldn't. They reached the door. Toriel gave him her cell phone. He put it in his pocket.

 

"Thank you again for your help. Considering everything that you told me, it musn't have been an easy decision to make." Toriel turned to Alex, blocking the door. She folded her arms. "If you're going to kill me, now's your time to do it." She said. Alex flinched in surprise. "What? No, I don't wanna kill you! I don't wanna kill anyone!" Alex exclaimed defensively.

 

"Frisk said the same thing, and that didn't stop him from piercing through me." Toriel said firmly, looking down at Alex's chest.

 

His SOUL did not appear.

 

Alex walked to Toriel, and held his arms out to her. She stepped into them, and the two shared a final hug goodbye. "I won't fight you. And don't apologize either." Alex said. Toriel remained silent, letting go of him after awhile. Alex walked to the door. "Good luck, Alex." She said finally. "I don't believe in luck, but I'll be careful. I'll be sure to call you and let you know when I've made it." Alex promised with a confident smile. He disappeared behind the other side of the door. It closed behind him.

 

"Goodbye... Alex."

 

Alex stepped out into another dark cave opening. A door stood on the other side of it. Between him and the door, in the center of the room, Flowey was waiting for him.

 

 

"You're an idiot. You know that? No, you think you're SO clever, getting her on your side. I see your plan. You want everybody on your side, so they can cheer for you like you're 'something special'. You're just gonna make me suffer more through this whole thing, aren't 'cha? I see right through ya, Alex. You're just gonna make everyone suffer more. I hope you're ready to have that on your conscience."

 

And, just like that, Flowey was gone again. Alex's eyebrows furrowed, but he continued to the door. He opened it, ad stepped out into the blinding white light on the other side...


	2. Chapter Two

Alex stepped away from the door, and his shoes crunched on freshly packed snow. On the other side of the door was a snowy forest and a just barely visible trail leading away from it. Alex could see lightly pressed flat footprints leading away from the door. The snow was falling lightly. Although their was no sun, natural light beamed down everywhere. It wasn't as cold as it looked, so Alex simply put his hoodie on and started down the trail, hands in his coat pockets...

 

~~~

 

**Fight. Act. Item. Mercy.**

 

These were the options that appeared in front of Alex as his surroundings darkened, and his SOUL appeared on his chest. Just a little bit down the path, a creature was blocking the way forward. It looked like a snowflake with the face of a bird. A box with text appeared above its head that read:

 

*Snowdrake is preparing an ice pun...

 

Alex looked through his options. Item: had only Butterscotch pie in it. He didn't want to choose Fight. Act: he was give the options 'Heckle' and 'Joke'. Alex read Snowdrake's box again. To Alex, it felt as if these interactions that he was taking part of with Flowey and now Snowdrake functioned like that of a video game. Alex chose Joke.

 

"Alright buddy, let's snow." Alex said, shaking his arms as if about to fight. Snowdrake chuckled, but proceeded to fire snowflakes composed of frozen solid ice at Alex. He didn't hesitate to jump out of the way. "There's snow way you can defeat me." Snowdrake said in a low voice. Alex chuckled. "Wow, that's snow bad." Alex laughed.

 

His four options appeared before him again. Alex took a look at Mercy this time: he could either choose 'Flee' or 'Spare'. Spare was in yellow text. None of Alex's other options were yellow before. Alex chose it. His surroundings normalized, his SOUL disappeared, and Snowdrake went on his way. "He laughed. He actually laughed. Take that, Dad!"

 

Alex shrugged. "I guess that's over then."

 

Alex took a step forward to continue, and felt something jingle in his coat pocket. He reached into it, and pulled out four gold coins. Alex hummed in confusion. He hadn't had those before. He pocketed the coins again, shrugged, and kept walking...

 

~~~

 

Alex reached a point in the trail where their was nothing but a big, long line of trees on either side.Alex continued on, his hands still in his pockets. He tried to use his iPhone again, but still no service. That was why Toriel had given him her phone. "Guess there's no coverage for the center of the Earth." Alex muttered to himself.

 

* _ **shuffle shuffle** *_

 

Alex spun around quickly. He'd heard a noise behind him, but there was nothing there, other than the snow and trees that he had already passed by. Alex shrugged and continued on, stepping over a fallen branch in the trail. Alex stretched out his shoulders, and yawned a bit.

 

**CRACK!**

 

Alex turned again. He blinked a few times; a shadow had flickered in his eye. Alex looked down at the branch he'd stepped over. It was broken in the center. Alex swallowed uneasily. "Whose there? Is someone there?" Alex called out. His voice echoed across the frozen forest, but no answer came. Alex turned again, and walked into a clearing.

 

To his right: a line of evergreen trees. To his left: a shack made of wood and a child-sized lamp. Up ahead: someone was coming down the trail, towards him.

 

Alex panicked, and ran to the shack before he could be seen by the approaching figure. Alex jumped over the front counter of the shack, hiding behind the other side.

 

"Sans! Sans, where are you? Stop hiding, Sans! You need to recalibrate your puzzles! Ugh, of course. He's probably out on another 'break'. I swear. he gets lazier and lazier every single day."

 

Alex adjusted how he was kneeling, and slowly looked over the counter. Out on the trail stood a tall skeleton wearing shorts, boots, and some kind of shell armor over its arms and chest, along with a long red scarf around its neck. It placed its fists on his hips, still looking left and right down the trail. Alex watched him carefully, and waited until it was gone. Once the skeleton had left, Alex came back out, and looked down where it had walked.

 

"Hey."

 

Alex turned around. He found a smaller skeleton standing behind him. It's head went up to about Alex's collar bones. It had on a blue hoodie, a white shirt, black shorts, and white bathroom slippers. Alex nodded.

 

"Sup?" Alex held out his hand, but the skeleton did not hold out its hand to him. "I'm Sans. Sans the skeleton." He introduced himself. Alex awkwardly put his hand back in his coat pocket. "I'm Alex. Nice to meet ya." "Alex, huh? Nice name." "Yours too, I guess. Thanks." Alex said.

 

"So, Alex, what brings ya to Snowdin Forest?" Sans asked. "I'm lookin to get home. The surface." Alex answered. "Ah. You're lookin to get through the barrier too, huh?" "Barrier?" Alex asked, raising an eyebrow.

 

"Yup. The barrier's the way back to the surface for you, buddy. It's over at Asgore's castle. He's the king of all us monsters here in the Underground. You wanna get to the surface? You're gonna have to go through him." Sans explained. "Ah." Alex nodded, contemplating this. "Is it far from here?" Sans nodded. "It sure ain't close." "Right. And Asgore? What about him?" Alex asked.

 

"Well, in case you haven't been told before, Asgore's got this plan to get us all up on the surface again. See, a long time ago, the humans sealed us down here after this big war, and the barrier they created is what's stopping us from getting up there again. It takes 7 human SOULs to open it, and so far, he's got 6. He almost had 7, but I think you already know what happened with the last human that fell down here." Alex nodded. "Yeah..."

 

"Oh! There was another skeleton here a second ago, looking for you." Alex exclaimed, remembering suddenly. "Right. That was my younger brother Papyrus. He's a human hunting fanatic by the way. He's harmless though, even if he tries not to be..." Sans said with a chuckle.

 

"... I, however, am not as nice as he is." Sans added. His left eye suddenly began to glow blue. Alex backed away slowly. "Woah man, I don't want any trouble, okay?" "Uhuh. You watch yourself around my brother, got it? I will personally hand to you the worst time of your life if you harm him." Sans threatened. "I won't." Alex said firmly.

 

Sans calmed, and his eye disappeared. "Good. I'm choosing to trust you. Don't give me reason to regret it." "Of course." Alex said, holding his hand out. "We've already gone through introductions, kid." Sans said, eyeing his hand. "I know. This is a trust handshake. An assurance that I mean what I say." Sans shrugged and shook his hand. "It's also a 'thank you' for the helpful heads up." Alex added.

 

Sans shrugged. "No problem. I'll be up ahead with my brother. See you then." Sans said, going down the trail, back the way Alex had come. Alex looked to where Papyrus had gone, then called back to Sans. "Yo, that's the wrong way." "I know a shortcut." Sans called back. Alex turned and started down the trail. He sneaked a glance behind him, but Sans was already gone...

 

~~~

 

This was it. After an encounter with a glowing golden star, which, according to his Stats, had 'filled him with Determination', Alex was coming up the path and approaching Sans and Papyrus. He saw them from down the path, talking, and he saw no way around them. He took a deep breath and approached them. They turned towards Alex.

 

"Sans! Oh. My. God. Is that...is that a human?" Papyrus asked excitedly. Sans shrugged. "I think the cold's gettin to ya, bro." "No! There's one right there! See? Right in front of that rock!" Papyrus pointed at Alex, who was calmly waiting. Sans nodded. "Hey, look at that. You're right. Nice job spottin him bro. He would've snuck right under my nose." Sans complimented. "We don't have noses, Sans." Papyrus pointed out. "Exactly." Sans said with a wink.

 

Papyrus stepped forward, standing firmly. "Human! You shall not pass this area! I, the Great Papyrus, will stop you! I will then proceed to capture you! I will take you to the capitol! Then, I will get all of the things that I utterly deserve, the most prominent of which is membership into the Royal Guard, and the respect of Undyne! But I digress. Continue, human, if you dare." Papyrus ran off, cackling confidently.

 

Alex shrugged awkwardly, wondering where the hell Papyrus was going. He walked to Sans, who was waiting for him. "Okay then?" Alex said. "He's excited, somehow. Nice job playing the part for him." Sans said, giving him a thumbs up. "I did absolutely nothing." Alex pointed out. "Exactly! It was perfect. That's why I do it." Sans chuckled. Alex rolled his eyes, slightly amused. He continued after Papyrus. He looked back at Sans; he still had one more thing to say to him:

 

"I can't humor him forever."

 

Alex walked into a clearing, where Papyrus was waiting for him. Papyrus stood next to a clearing in the snow, with giant snow piles and blue X's on the floor. He had been idly standing there, humming to himself and tapping his foot as he waited. Once Alex came into his view, his posture straightened.

 

"Ah! Human! At last, you arrive! Took you long enough." Papyrus said as Alex approached the clearing of X's. "Yeah. My name's Alex by the way. You can call me Alex." "Very well." Papyrus nodded. "Whatcha got for me here?" Alex asked.

 

"Nyeheheh! Funny you should ask, hu- I mean Alex. This is a dastardly puzzle of my very own design. Its purpose? Why, to stump you of course! And trap you! Nyeheheh!" Papyrus cackled. "But, unfortunately, there is a slight problem. You see, heh, you were taking a long time, so I decided to improve this puzzle by making it look more like my face. But, now, the solution is different!" Papyrus explained.

 

Alex hummed in thought, walking around the puzzle. "Hey, Papyrus, can you give me a boost?" Alex asked. "You mean like a boost of confidence? Would 'I'm rooting for you, kid' suffice? My brother used to say that to me." "No, I mean lift me onto your shoulder so I can get a better view of the puzzle." Alex elaborated. "Oh! Right!"

 

Papyrus walked to Alex and carefully lifted him onto his shoulders. He stumbled a bit as Alex's full weight fell on him, but he stayed upright. "Woah! You're stronger than you look." Alex said once he had regained his own balance. "Of course I am! Just look at my biceps. I'm not all skin and bones you know. Nyeheheh!!" Alex chuckled, then studied the puzzle for a bit. "Hmm...no...maybe...nah...let's try that. Okay, I think I got it!"

 

Alex rolled off of Papyrus' shoulders in a backflip, behind him, landing on his feet. Alex stood and clapped eagerly. "Alright." Alex went through the puzzle, skipping around a space but never jumping over. As he stepped on the X's, they changed to red O's. Once they were all red O's, Papyrus pressed a switch, and the puzzle was solved. Papyrus clapped a few times.

 

"Excellent! You solved it so quickly! And you didn't even require my assistance. You must have a keen mind when it comes to puzzle something." Papyrus observed. Alex nodded. "Yeah, growing up, I loved playing puzzle games and solving mazes." "Hey, me too! That's cool, and you're pretty cool too, though not quite as cool as myself.

 

"However! The next puzzle won't be as easy this one. Let's hope you are prepared for the danger up ahead as you take on this next puzzle. I wonder if you'll be able to solve it. Nyeheheh!!!" Papyrus quickly cackled away. It was then that Alex noticed Sans waiting for him on the other side of the puzzle. Alex walked to him.

 

"Not bad. My brother seems to connect with you more than the other humans. The last one wasn't much of a talker." Sans said. "Yeah. He's cool, I suppose. A little odd." "Aren't most cool people? Besides, he's just enthusiastic, what with his dream and all. Me, I'm just the complacent with the way things are." Sans rambled. "Why complacent?" Alex asked. Sans simply shrugged. "Better get going. There's more in store up ahead." Sans said.

 

Alex nodded and continued down the path...


	3. Chapter Three

" _Dear human/Alex, I have prepared for you this delicious bowl of spaghetti. Yes, I, the Great Papyrus, have made this artisan delicacy with my own hands just for you. Little do you know, this culinary masterpiece is, in fact, a trap meant to entice you, seducing you with its fine scent of perfection. You'll be so busy enjoying it that you won't even realize you aren't progressing. Nyeheheh! Enjoy this spaghetti that totally isn't a trap. Nyehfully yours, Papyrus."_

 

Alex put down the handwritten note from Papyrus, and glanced down at the plate of spaghetti sitting on a small wooden table next to a microwave. The microwave wasn't plugged in, and all of its settings read: 'Spaghetti'. The spaghetti itself was now frozen after being left on the plate, outside in the cold, for such a long time. Gagging at the idea of eating frozen food, and seeing no way to warm it up, Alex chose to continue.

 

Right next to the table, there was a golden star floating above the ground. Alex went and touched it. A black box of text appeared in front of him. It read: "The nastiness of the frozen spaghetti fills you with Determination." Alex stood up, ready to continue.

 

~~~

 

Covered in snow and some dirt, and smelling like a wet dog, Alex continued down the path. He reached a clearing, and there he found both Sans and Papyrus waiting on the other side of a large, square, smooth surface carved out in the snow. The two brothers seemed to be engaged in a deep conversation, but they quickly turned when they saw Alex.

 

"Ahah! The human arrives again! Sans and I were just discussing something odd. You probably don't know this, and we don't blame you, but you took the path wrong. You were supposed to reach this puzzle first, then my spaghetti, then my face in the snow, then the bridge of terror. Or was it the bridge, face, then spaghetti? Either way, you messed up, but we've forgiven you." Papyrus nodded.

 

Papyrus turned to Sans. "You don't remember moving the puzzles around, do you?" He asked. "Because I don't." Papyrus added to the end of his question. Sans simply shrugged.

 

"Anyways! Alex, it is time for your next puzzle! THIS is the electricity maze! You did say you liked mazes, didn't you? And yet, you will find that this maze has one shocking difference! You must navigate through this area, and if you take a false step, the maze will administer a hearty ZAP!" Papyrus explained.

 

Alex eyed the area around the square clearing, and began to make his way around the maze area. "Woah woah woah! What're you doing??" Papyrus yelled. "This isn't the solution?" Alex asked with false innocence. "Of course not! That would be ridiculous!" Papyrus exclaimed. "Just play along." Sans said with a sigh. Alex groaned a bit and went back to the beginning of the maze.

 

Alex took a step forward onto the maze, cringing in expectation of getting ZAPPED. Instead of Alex getting electrocuted, Papyrus did. He jolted and flinched, stepping back. He stamped his foot in frustration. "Sans, you broke the puzzle!" He yelled. Sans noticed a small, clear, spherical orb by Papyrus' right foot. "Dude, he's not holding the orb." Sans pointed out.

 

"Oh, my mistake." Papyrus said, picking the orb up. He navigated safely through the maze, leaving a trail of the dirt and snow he'd collected underneath his boots. He tossed the orb over to Alex. "Here ya go. Try now." Papyrus ran back through the other side. Alex, dumbfounded at the trail Papyrus had left, walked through it safely.

 

"Un! Believable! You cunning cockroach! You solved it so easily! Almost too easily. But! More challenges lie ahead! Nyeheheheh!! Heh." Papyrus was quickly gone again, leaving Alex and Sans alone again. "Interesting." Alex commented. Sans nodded.

 

"Hey, do you know what my bro was talking about when he said you did things off the order?" Sans asked. Alex shook his head. "Not a clue." "Well, long story short, when you came down and everything reset itself and we all came back, certain places got switched around. Everything still joins together, but it's all out of order." Sans summarized. Alex's eyebrows furrowed, and he continued on without another word.

 

Alex entered another straight path with trees on both side. He passed by a small wooden doghouse. "Hold it!" A gruff voice shouted at him. Alex's SOUL immediately appeared on his chest, and his surroundings darkened. Alex turned and saw a dog with two blue swords and a white tank top. "I see you moving." He said, pointing his sword at Alex.

 

Alex quickly chose Fight once his options appeared in front of him. He charged forward, fists balled. The dog crouched in a ready stance. Alex threw a wild punch, and the dog sidestepped him. Alex turned and threw a kick, and the dog blocked it by lifting his knee. He lifted his swords and swung one at Alex's head. Alex ducked under it, and rolled out of the way as the dog swung his other sword downwards.

 

Alex's options appeared again, and he chose Fight. He was determined to win. Alex charged again. He feinted a punch, and the dog sidestepped again. Alex threw a hard right hook across the dog's face. He stumbled back. A red bar labeled HP appeared over its head, and the bar depleted with the damage it took. The dog growled and attacked.

 

Alex jumped back to avoid the dog's wild sword swing. "Quit moving you little bugger!" It growled, thrusting his left sword forward. Alex spun around the sword and elbowed the dog in the side of the head. It grunted in pain, and the HP bar went down again. It swung at his head again a third time, which Alex wasn't prepared for.

 

Alex froze up as the dog swung right at his neck. Alex had turned just in time to see the blade approach his neck...

 

...then pass right through.

 

"Where'd you go? You were just moving a second ago!" The dog exclaimed. It stayed in a crouching position after having followed through with its swing at Alex's neck. Alex's options appeared before him again, but Alex didn't dare move to touch them. He slowly petted the dog's nose instead, and it panicked. "What?! Something pet me?! Nothing moved!"

 

Alex's options appeared again as the dog panicked. His Mercy option was blinking. Alex chose it, and chose to Spare the dog. Back into its house the dog went, shuddering. "Something pet me...that wasn't moving... I need a dog treat..." Alex's SOUL disappeared, his surroundings normalized, and he hurried away from the doghouse as quickly as he could...

 

~~~

 

Alex stopped walking the trail. It led him to a long bridge going over a deep chasm. The fall looked about 1,000 stories higher than what Alex wanted to fall, and he has a fear of heights. Taking a deep breath and grabbing both of the support ropes firmly, Alex slowly made his way to the other end of the bridge. He was almost there when he saw Sans and Papyrus waiting on the other end of the bridge. He stopped.

 

"Alex! This is your final test! This is the Gauntlet of Terror!" Papyrus exclaimed. He pressed a button, and weapons hanging from ropes appeared: a cannon, a spear, a puppy, et cetera. Alex eyed them all, then looked down at the chasm again. He swallowed hard, muttered a curse under his breath, and gripped the ropes tighter. Papyrus noticed this, but continued.

 

"W-when I activate it, blades will swing! Cannons will fire! Each part will swing violently up and down! Only the slightest chance of victory will remain, and only those with agility and speed as great as mine will be able to best it! Are you ready, Alex? Because I! Am! About! To do it!" Papyrus shouted, lifting up an activation button. Alex winced, bracing himself and gripping the ropes.

 

Papyrus hesitated for a few moments, his thumb resting on the button. It trembled as he contemplated pressing it. "What's the holdup, bro?" Sans asked, looking up at his younger brother. "Hol-holdup? There's no holdup! I'm...about to press it!" Still nothing. Alex and Papyrus made eye contact. Papyrus could see the trembling of silent fear of Alex's eyes. "It's, uh, still not lookin too activated." Sans pointed out.

 

Papyrus exhaled sharply but quietly. "It's, uh, well...it's just that...this method seems a little too direct. Yeah! That's it! Alex has proven himself to be a master of puzzle solving. This isn't the way to end things! There's no class, no class at all! Away it goes." Papyrus said with a wave of his hand, and all the weapons disappeared. Alex and Papyrus both exhaled a sigh of relief. Sans eyed Papyrus.

 

"What? What're you looking at, brother? This was another decisive victory with the Great Papyrus! After all, my puzzles are fair, and my traps are expertly cooked! I know exactly what I'm doing!" Papyrus defended, cackling away again to hide his uncertainty. "Right." Sans said under his breath. Alex stepped off the other side of the bridge, walking to Sans.

 

"What was that all about?" Alex asked him. Sans shrugged. "Dunno. I dunno what he's gonna do now. The town's up ahead." Sans said. "No more puzzles or anything?" Alex asked Sans. Sans simply shook his head. "Papyrus is the only thing stopping you now, since I'm not feelin like it right now." Sans said. "I'll talk to him. Maybe he'll understand." Alex said. "And what if he doesn't?" Sans asked. Alex shrugged and kept walking; he didn't answer.

 

~~~

 

Alex passed by a sign that read: "Welcome To Snowdin" and entered the town itself. It was made up of one long street with two turns. A number of small buildings lined the left side of the street. Alex walked through passing by a few houses, a restaurant called Grillby's, and a few idle monsters on the street. They gave Alex weird looks and fearful glances as he passed.

 

Alex stopped in front of a building with a sign that read: "LIBRARBY". Alex entered the library. inside was one monster with a large eye reading at a table, and the librarian behind the counter. She appeared to Alex to be some kind of female alien humanoid with blue skin and long pink hair. She turned around, saw Alex, and shrank back with a gasp.

 

Alex waved. "Hi there." Alex greeted, leaning his elbow on the counter. The librarian nodded timidly. "H-hello. What c-can I...do for you?" She managed to ask. "I was wondering if you had any history books that I could check out." Alex asked, flashing a polite smile that made the librarian's shoulders relax. She nodded. "Yes. We should have one back here."

 

She turned around to one of the shelves behind the counter. "Nobody usually takes these, so we keep them back here now." She explained to Alex. Alex walked around and behind the counter. "Ah. I see." The librarian took one of the books in her hands, blowing dust off of it.

 

"What's your name?" Alex asked curiously, leaning towards her. "Ariel." She answered. "I'm Alex. Nice to meet ya, Ariel." Alex said, holding his hand out to her. She shook it, then handed him the history book with a much more genuine smile. "Thank you very much." Alex said with his own smile. Now Ariel felt fully at ease. "You're welcome. Don't forget to bring it back, kay?" "You got it." Alex said, going back around the counter and nodding to the eye monster before walking to the door.

 

He stopped, and turned back to Ariel.

 

"One more thing." He said. Ariel's eyebrows perked. "Yes?" "I'm looking for Papyrus the skeleton. Do you know where I can find him?" Ariel nodded in response. "He passed by some time ago. He said he was gonna go think, which means he's by the river. Just keep going down the path." Ariel gladly directed, pointing in the direction Alex had been walking all along. "Thanks again." Alex said, exiting the library.

 

As Alex walked down the path towards the river, he kept in mind what Sans had told him about Asgore and fighting Papyrus and everything else. It was a lot of information to take in, and Alex realized that he needed to decide quickly how far he would be willing to go in order to get back home...

 

Alex stopped. He'd reached the river. It rushed calmly to his left, chunks of ice floating downstream. Just down the path, there was Papyrus standing in the center of the path. His back was to Alex. Papyrus' head was down, and his fists were on his hips; he was deep in thought.

 

Alex took a deep breath, and called out his name...


	4. Chapter Four

"Papyrus!"

 

Alex's voice echoed down the snowy path. A light, chilly gust of wind carried down as Papyrus turned to Alex with a quick jolt.

 

"Huh? Alex! I-I wasn't expecting you so soon!" Papyrus stuttered. Alex exhaled sharply. "I think it's time we put this to an end." Alex said. "Yes. Yes! I fully agree! ...what do you mean by that exactly?" Papyrus asked. "You wanna capture me, and I can't accept capture." Alex stated. "Ah, so it's time for us to fight then!" Papyrus said, raising his fists.

 

Alex shook his head. "I don't want to fight." He reached into his back pocket, pulling out a black leather wallet. "I want to show you something." He said. Papyrus tilted his head in confusion. Alex walked up to Papyrus, standing in front of him. He held up a picture. Papyrus looked down at it.

 

The photograph depicted Alex at a table in a fancy restaurant with a girl. It was nighttime. They were dressed nicely and smiling happily. The girl was very pretty. She had long flowing black hair, deep brown eyes that were brighter than Alex's, and tanned skin. Papyrus took this in.

 

"Her name is Jasmine."

 

"Ah. You have a girl up there. And she's...special to you?" Alex nodded. "Very special. I know that, up there, she's worried sick about me. I need to get back to her." Alex said firmly. Papyrus squirmed a bit. "Ergh...but-but, I'm supposed to capture you..." Papyrus said hesitantly, staring at Alex's picture.

 

Alex pocketed the picture. "Put yourself in my shoes, Papyrus... Imagine that you were in my position, and it was Sans up there on the surface. What would you say to me?" Alex proposed. "Well, I'd tell you how important my brother is to me, and then I'd ask very nicely if I could...oh..." Papyrus sighed, all at once understanding how Alex must've felt. Alex waited silently as Papyrus mulled it over.

 

Papyrus sighed again. "Alright. I won't capture you." He said. Alex exhaled a sigh of relief. "Thank you." "You're welcome." Papyrus sighed. Alex nodded and began to continue down the trail. "Where are you going?" Papyrus asked. "Forward." Alex answered.

 

"It's getting late." Papyrus pointed out. Alex looked up and noticed how dark it was. "Yeah. I guess it is." Alex said. "You can stay at my house if you'd like." Papyrus offered. Alex nodded. "Okay. Yeah, I'd appreciate that." "Come. I will take you to my home." Papyrus said.

 

~~~

 

Papyrus led Alex into his two story home. Alex was greeted with a gust of warm air as he entered the house. He stood between the living room and a dining table. On the left side of the house was a set of stairs. The upper level had three doors. In front of Alex was the entrance to the kitchen.

 

"Welcome to my humble home, Alex! Looks like Sans hasn't come back from his second job yet. I forget how many of those he has. Anyways, there's the couch and the table and the bathroom is the middle door up there. You can sleep in my room. It's the first door on the left up there." Papyrus said. "Oh no no that's fine. I'll take the couch." Alex insisted. Papyrus shrugged. "If you say so."

 

"Well, I suppose it's time to start on the dinner spaghetti!" "Heheh. Sure. You pretty passionate about cooking?" Alex asked. Papyrus nodded excitedly. "Yes! Spaghetti is my favorite food! I cook it every day, I love it so much. Also, it's the only cooking lesson I ever finished with Undyne." "Haha. That's awesome. I'm not the biggest cook, but I've learned a few tips and tricks." "Have you learned spaghetti??" Papyrus rubbed his palms together.

 

Alex nodded, and Papyrus jumped excitedly. "Great! You can help me prepare!"

 

Papyrus grabbed Alex and pulled him into the kitchen. He handed Alex an apron, and they washed their hands. "Alright! I'll handle the noodles! You take the meat!" Papyrus instructed. They began cooking. Papyrus set the spaghetti to boil as Alex worked on mixing up the meat.

 

"Is it alright if I play some music as they work?" Alex asked as they worked. "Go ahead." Papyrus nodded. Alex cleaned off his hands and played one of his favorite Spanish songs from his phone: El Perdon. Papyrus hummed as it played. He was intrigued by the music.

 

"What an interesting sound. Is this the type of music they play on the surface?" Papyrus asked. "One kind. There's many many different kinds of music on the surface." Alex described. "What kind of music plays down here in the Underground?" Alex asked.

 

"Oh! Well...not much, to be honest. Other than Mettaton on TV, not much music circulates down here." Alex hummed in surprise. "One source of music? I don't like that too much." Alex said. "Passionate about music?" Papyrus asked. Alex nodded. "I love music like you love spaghetti." Alex said. "Wow. You must REALLY love music then." "Mhmm." Papyrus hummed.

 

Papyrus slid the meat over from Alex as they switched stations. Alex glanced over at Papyrus as he stirred the boiling pot of noodles. Papyrus added the seasonings to the meat, including a lot more garlic than what was needed. Alex yelped. "Agh! What're you doing?!" He shouted.

 

Papyrus flinched and backed away from the meat with his hands up. "What?! What is it?!" "That's too much garlic dude!" "What're you talking about? That's the amount of garlic I always put. The taste is good." Papyrus defended. "Uh...how about we try it with less garlic this one time. Okay?" Alex suggested. Papyrus shrugged. "Alright, but you'll have to remake the sauce."

 

***

 

"I'm home, bro." Sans called out as he entered the house. It was fully dark outside now. "Yo Papy, where you at?" San called out, facing the door to Papyrus' room. "Over here, brother!" Papyrus said. Sans turned and saw that both he and Alex were sitting at the dining table with plates of spaghetti. He glared at Alex.

 

"Come join us, Sans. We were just about to begin, but we waited for you. Our guest and I have prepared spaghetti." Papyrus said. Sans sat at the table. "You two cooked...?" Alex and Papyrus nodded. "Papyrus was kind enough to allow me to spend the night." Alex said as he mixed his spaghetti around and took a bite. Sans watched intently as he did so.

 

Alex hummed and nodded. "Mhmm. This is pretty sick. Nice job with the salt by the way." Alex complimented Papyrus. "It's sick? Spaghetti doesn't get sick..." Papyrus said. "No no, that's an expression that means really good." Alex explained. Sans and Papyrus shrugged and took bites off their own plates. "It's actually pretty good." Sans and Papyrus agreed.

 

***

 

"Long ago, two races lived on the surface: humans and monsters. The two races lived in abundant peace. That is, until the monsters discovered SOUL power. Humans, fearful of this power, declared war on the monsters and eventually won, due to their own SOUL power, which was much more powerful than the monsters. Humans banished the monsters underground, sealing up the way out with a barrier."

 

Alex read under his breath from the history book he had checked out from the library. Alex had no idea what time it was, but it felt pretty late. He continued reading on with keen interest. He was so involved in his reading that he didn't notice someone come down from upstairs. It was only when he'd made his way to the couch that Alex noticed him.

 

"Hey. Mind if I sit?" Sans asked. He'd showered and changed into a fresh black T-shirt and dark blue pajama pants. Alex nodded, pulling his blankets off the edge of the couch and crossing his legs to make room. Sans sat down and turned to Alex, crossing his legs as well. "Comfy." Sans commented. "Right?" Alex agreed.

 

"My brother's starting to like you a lot." Sans said. "Is he?" Sans nodded. "He's gonna miss you when you're gone. He was just tellin me about it before I read him his bedtime story. He wanted me to ask you when is it you plan to leave?" "First thing early in the morning." Alex answered. "Make sure to say goodbye to him before you go. He'll be real upset if you don't." Sans requested. Alex nodded. "Sure."

 

"Mind if I ask you another question?" "What is this, Jeopardy?" Alex joked. Sans said nothing. "It's...it's a TV show-what's your question?" Alex blinked. "What is it that landed you down here, and what's got you so determined to get back as quickly as possible?" "It's a long story." Alex said. Sans shrugged. "I've got time." Sans said.

 

Alex readjusted how he was sitting, and began his story.

 

"Me and my girlfriend, Jasmine, have been dating for almost 5 years now. Starting out, our families didn't like each other very much; her family was a little more accepting of me though. We moved out around 18 and got apartments close to each other, and from there money became our constant biggest struggle.

 

"We'd saved up this past year to rent a log cabin out here in the mountains and go on vacation. While we were out here, we got to talking about stuff, and it escalated into an argument. I can't remember what it was about, probably money. I came up here on a walk to clear my head and calm down, get my thoughts together. I ended up down here." Alex finished.

 

Sans sighed. "That's rough." Alex nodded in agreement. "Yeah. Now I just wanna get back to her. She gets really uneasy and stuff when she's worried." "I gotcha." Sans said, standing up. "Thanks for humoring me. Every human that falls down here always seems to have something to get back to, but I've never had the opportunity to ask one why." Sans explained, turning and going upstairs.

 

"Night." "Night, Sans."

 

***

 

Alex was awoken by the sound of something clattering in the kitchen. It must've been either really late at night or really early in the morning, because it was still very dark. Alex lifted his head and peered into the kitchen. Papyrus was sneaking around with a small plastic bowl of leftover spaghetti.

 

"Papyrus?" He called out. Papyrus flinched a bit, coming into the living room. "Alex? I'm sorry, did I wake you?" "Yeah. Yeah you did." Alex muttered sluggishly. He tried to rub his eyes and get up, but instead fell to the floor with a low thud. Papyrus helped him up, and Alex sat back on the couch."Thanks." Alex muttered. Papyrus nodded.

 

"What're you doing up so late?" Alex asked. "Oh, well you know, I was just...getting some spaghetti. Yeah! I need more than just three simple meals to maintain this fantastic physique." Papyrus said half-heartedly, with a forced awkward chuckle. Alex patted his hand on the couch. "Sit down. Tell me what's up." Alex beckoned. Papyrus sat.

 

"Well...I had a nightmare." Papyrus finally admitted. "What about?" Alex asked. "Well...it was about my last encounter with a human. Every time I have it, it's the same. He always comes up on the path where we met earlier by the river, and we have our fight. I try my hardest to capture him, but he kills me in the end every time." Papyrus relayed slowly.

 

"Oh." Alex said. "When we had out meeting; actually, as soon as I first saw you, I was worried that would hapen again. I'm glad it didn't." Papyrus quickly added. "I don't see how anyone could've had the heart to kill you." Alex said. Papyrus nodded silently. Alex pondered this for a bit, then something popped in his head: an idea that'd help Papyrus feel better.

 

"Would you mind if I told you a nightmare that I've had?" Alex asked. "You don't have to." "Yeah, but you told me yours. It's only fair." Alex said. Papyrus nodded. "Okay."

 

"Alright, so when I was a young boy, like 6 or 7, I had a dream where me and my Dad were going to a store in this van. We stopped in front of a store and my Dad gets out, and leans against the front hood to answer a phone call. You following so far?"

 

Papyrus nodded. "What's a van?" "A big car." "Got it. Okay, continue."

 

"Okay. So my Dad's at the hood, and I look ahead and see a tornado coming straight at us. It's tearing the street up and wrecking everything around it. I yell at my Dad, but he doesn't hear me. Then, WOOSH! The tornado sweeps him up. It was like you blinked, and he was gone.

 

"The van gets swept up, and the door to my right opens. I fall out of the van as it gets swept up, and I land face first on the street. My neck snaps, then I woke up." Alex concluded the dream.

 

"Wow." Papyrus said with a shake of his head. "That had to be terrifying." Alex nodded. "It was. And you know what happened next?" "You already said you woke up." Papyrus pointed out, confused. "Just bare with me.

 

"About 3 months after that nightmare, and another similar one, our family went down to the beach for a little vacation. Well, we're on our way back a few days later, and we're driving down the highway. And it is pouring badly out; it was raining so hard you could barely see 10 feet in front of you, and it is just crazy. Wind was howling too. It was strong enough to blow our car off the road. It didn't, fortunately.

 

"So we get under a highway bridge, and a lot of people are parked up against the right side, waiting this thing out. My parents look at each other; Mom says we should stay too, and Dad says we should keep going. They look at me, and ask me what we should do."

 

"What did you say?" Papyrus asked, hands on his chin as he listened, captivated by the story.

 

"Well, of course, I say we should get out of there. I don't wanna be there. I'm terrified. Mom puts the car in drive, and we weather through the storm and make it home safely." Papyrus sighed in relief.

 

"Next morning, me and my Mom are sitting in the living room and watching the news. They were showing this highway. There was all this wind and water damage everywhere. Cars were toppled over, trees were on the road, and the bridge itself barely held up. It was awful. Mom turns to me and says: 'That's where we were at, Alex. I'm glad we didn't stay'." "I'm glad too." Papyrus agreed.

 

"Your nightmare had me thinking about that dream just now, because your nightmare gave you fear, and so did mine. But we both had to face our fears, and things turned out alright. I guess what I'm saying is...sometimes you gotta take a risk and face your fears to find out if the danger is real, or just in your head." Alex said. Papyrus agreed. "Fine words."

 

"Nah, I'm just rambling. Anyways, you feel better?" Alex asked. "Yes, a lot better. Thank you." "No problem. Night, Papy." Alex said. "Goodnight." Papyrus said, getting up and going to his room. Alex laid back down, and quickly fell asleep again...


	5. Chapter 5

Alex stepped out of the bathroom of Sans and Papyrus' house, dressed in the clothes he had fallen down in. He was refreshed, it was early, and he was ready to go. He descended down the stairs into the living room, where he found Papyrus there waiting for him, to his surprise.

 

"Just had to see me off, didn't you?" Alex asked. Papyrus stood, and nodded silently. Alex walked to Papyrus and held his hand out. "Take care of yourself." Alex said. Papyrus shook Alex's hand, sighing under his breath. "Be careful out there, Alex." Papyrus urged. "Don't worry. I will." Alex reassured.

 

"I mean, unless you wanna stay here a little longer. We could hang out some more..." Papyrus attempted half-heartedly, already knowing the answer. Alex shook his head. "I can't." "I know..." Papyrus sighed sadly, loud enough for Alex to hear this time.

 

Papyrus pulled Alex to him for a hug, which, after some shock and hesitation, Alex returned. "I hope to see you a again...friend." Papyrus said hesitantly. "Me too." Alex stepped back with a smile. "So we are friends then?" Papyrus asked. "I thought you knew that already." Alex said with a chuckled. Papyrus grinned.

 

Before Alex left, Papyrus gave Alex his phone number. "In case you need help." Papyrus said. "Sure thing. You can also call anytime, in case you get worried and wanna check up on me for some peace of mind. I'll answer when I'm able." Alex said. Papyrus nodded. "Thank you." He said. "No, thank you." Alex said with a small smile.

 

With that, Alex left the house, and began down the lonely path that would eventually lead him to Asgore's castle...

 

***

 

As Alex's legs began to feel a little weary from so much walking, he began humming and even singing some songs to himself to keep his spirits up. He deliberately chose songs that reminded him of Jasmine. It made him miss her terribly, but even though it ached, the memories he associated with the songs came back to him, and he found himself smiling anyway.

 

"Zzzzzz...zzzzz..."

 

Alex stopped. He found himself at the entrance to a new area of dark caves and beautiful glowing blue flowers. However, he couldn't continue forward, because on the ground in front of his feet, the appearance of what appeared to be a white ghost was laying on the ground, saying 'z' out loud and pretending to sleep.

 

"Um...excuse me. Hello?" Alex said, tapping his foot. The monster rose and faced Alex. "Oh...hello...am I blocking your way...?" It asked with some shuddery anxiousness. "Yeah. Is...is something wrong, dude?" Alex asked with folded eyebrows. He was concerned. "No..." It answered quietly, moving aside. "Thanks." Alex said, walking past it...

 

...then stopping...

 

...then turning around, because he felt bad.

 

"Hey, what's your name?" He asked it. "Napstablook." "Napstablook. Nice to meet you. I'm Alex." "Alex. That's a nice name." Napstablook said slowly, with some uncertainty. "Would you like to come with me on my walk for a bit?" Alex offered. Napstablook perked in surprise. "You...want me to come?" "Yeah. I could use the help. I don't know anything about this area." "O-okay. I'll try not to be a burden." Napstablook said, floating in step behind Alex as he started to walk. "You won't be." Alex said. Napstablook smiled a bit.

 

"So, do you live around here?" Alex asked Napstablook one they'd gone down the path a bit. "Yeah. My house is just down the path. I lie to lay around the outskirts and look up at stuff." He said in his own slow pace. "Like the stars?" Alex asked. "Sometimes." He answered simply.

 

"You have friends?" Alex asked. "Well... Undyne comes around once or twice. She's my neighbor... She isn't much of a talker...she's a yeller...she likes to play loud music to keep her energized..." Napstablook said slowly. "Ah." Alex said, finding his description to be very odd. He decided to play music from his phone.

 

Alex began walking in time to Good Life, singing along a bit. Napstablook listened with interest to the song. "This is...nice." He commented. "Yeah. This is one of my favorite songs from the surface. Well, one of many." Alex chuckled a bit. "That's cool. I like new music. I even make it sometimes...but no one listens to it..." Napstablook sighed.

 

"You make music?!" Alex asked with some moderately loud excitement. "Yeah." Napstablook answered. "That's cool man. I'll totally have to check it out and give it a listen." "You will?" Napstablook asked, surprised. "Heck yeah! I've never met anyone who makes music before." Alex said. "Well, I hope you like mine..." Napstablook said softly. "I think I will." Alex said confidently, making Napstablook smile a little wider.

 

Napstablook soon departed from Alex, claiming he had to tidy up at his house a little before Alex's eventual visit. Now Alex was alone again, and he had a cold feeling; something felt wrong. Alex shut his music off and proceeded with extra caution. He reached a long patch of tall grass. He knelt down to wade through it.

 

CLANK! CLANK!

 

Alex stopped, hearing the loud clanging of armor just off to his left. Alex froze, kneeling down and listening to a familiar voice and an unfamiliar voice: it was a slightly gruff female voice. The two voices conversed.

 

"Papyrus. Give your report on the human's status. Now." The female ordered. Papyrus responded nervously in turn. "Nyeheheh...well, you see, Undyne...what had happened was..." "Get to it!" Undyne barked impatiently. "The human escaped! I fought valiantly, but in the end he continued on." Papyrus answered quickly with a shriek.

 

"What?! The human escaped?!" Undyne screeched, raising her voice. "Now, Undyne, I know what you're thinking, but you see, there's no need to worry. The human is not a threat." Papyrus attempted to defend. "Not...a thre- this is a human we're talking about, Papyrus! Have you forgotten what they've done to us monsters, to me, to you?!" Undyne fiercely pointed out.

 

Papyrus didn't answer.

 

"I'll go after the human myself." Undyne decided. "What? No, Undyne, you can't!" Papyrus exclaimed. "Silence! You failed to do your job; you still have much to learn if you'll ever be in the Royal Guard. We have a duty to do, and that's to bring the human to the King!" Undyne scolded him. "But..." "Go!" Undyne sent him off.

 

Alex could hear the sound of Papyrus' boots trudge off. Alex didn't move a muscle, but something rustled in the grass behind him. Undyne turned, and peered into the grass, raising her spear. She waited. Nothing moved. Undyne left after a bit, clanking away in her armor. Alex exited the grass, and was followed out by a short dinosaur-looking monster kid in a turtleneck sweater and no arms.

 

"Woah dude, did you see the way she was looking at you? That. Was. So. Awesome! You're so lucky! I wish she would look at ME like that! What'd you do to get her looking a you?" The kid spoke quickly. Alex stared blankly at the kid for a few moments before turning and walking away. The kid followed him.

 

"Haha, so you're following Undyne too, right? She's so cool, isn't he? Hey, don't tell my parents I'm out here, okay? Anyways, don't you think Undyne is just the coolest?" The kid asked. Alex shrugged. "I guess she's alright." "Ha! She's awesome, and she beats up people too. Maybe one day she'll beat up the human that everyone's saying is down here. Man, I'm sure glad I'm not that human." "Right..." Alex muttered.

 

"You wanna watch her beat the human up?" The kid asked. "I don't like violence." Alex dismissed.

 

They reached a small, raised part of the path. It rose up to about Alex's chest. Alex jumped up onto it, stumbling a bit. "Woah dude, nice jump!" The kid said. Alex turned and reached down to help the kid up. "Here. Lemme help you out." He offered. The kid shook his head. "Nah. I'll find another way and catch up to you." And with that, he ran off. Alex just shrugged and kept walking.

 

~~~

 

Alex stopped on the wet path. It had begun to rain, so Alex put his hoodie on. A statue had caught his attention, or rather, the remains of a statue. It had horns and a torso and biceps, but everything else had either broken off or worn away, including the face.

 

Alex stared at the statue; it made him feel kinda sad. It looked forgotten, destroyed, and alone. And there it stood, being all those things, catching rain and being slowly carved away further by the droplets of rain. Alex knew that enough of this continuous rain would eventually wear the statue down into dust. However, seeing that he couldn't do anything, he continued on...

 

There. A little down the path. It was almost too convenient: a bucket full of umbrellas. He quickly grabbed a blue one, and ran with it back to the statue. Alex could feel the sentimental nature of his heart filling him with the Determination to do this.

 

Alex propped up the umbrella over the statue. It slowly churned to life, and a music box began to play a solemn little tune from inside the statue. Alex listened to it calmly, as if out of respect. Finally, he grabbed an umbrella and kept walking, and the music box merely faded off into the distance...

 

~~~

 

Alex walked quietly in the rain, his mind heavy with all of his thoughts. Indeed, he had much on his mind: Jasmine, Asgore, the threat of Undyne looming over him, and a burning Determination to get home. Much as he hated it, he'd have to say goodbye soon to his friend Papyrus, Toriel, and even Sans.

 

His thoughts were interrupted by the monster child's voice calling after him again.

 

"Hey! There you are! Wait up!" The child ran towards Alex, tripping over his own feet and falling flat on his face. He got up again and quickly ran under Alex's umbrella. "Mind if I join ya under here? I can't exactly hold an umbrella." Alex smiled and nodded, patting the boy's head lightly. They began to walk.

 

"Hey, so I was thinking about what you said about Undyne and the whole violence thing, right? But Undyne's not like that dude. She only beats up people who deserve it. Not little guys like me. She protects us." "She beats up humans, right?" Alex said. "Yeah. Humans for sure." "Why?" Alex asked.

 

"Don't you know what they did to us? They're the reason we're down here and stuff. My Mom says that they're really scary and mean. That's why Undyne protects us." The kid described. "You ever met a human?" "Oh no, I don't know what I'd do if I'd ever faced one." The kid said, vigorously shaking his head.

 

"I heard that one's fallen into the Underground though. Maybe we'll run into him." Alex said. "Hopefully Undyne will be close by if that happens, right?" The kid chuckled.

 

"Nah, you don't need her, you got me." Alex said with a shrug. "You're gonna protect me from the human?" The kid asked skeptically. "Yep. I won't let no bad humans or bad monsters hurt you." Alex said. "Hey, Undyne said that one time! Yeah! She came to our school and said that. You kinda sounded like her when you said it too." They chuckled.

 

"Can I ask you a question, uh, sir?" The kid asked. "Sure." "You say you'll protect me like Undyne would, but why? It's not your job like hers, is it?" The child asked, scooting closer to Alex to avoid the rain. Alex tilted his head. "Well, cause it's the right thing. Also, you remind me of my little brother: Caleb. He used to look up to me the way you look up to Undyne; when he was younger at least." Alex said.

 

"That's cool. Is your brother like you?" "He looks like me if that's what you mean. Just younger and smaller. You'd get along with him real well." "Cool! I'd like to meet 'im." "Maybe one day. Long as you're with me though, I'll protect you like you were him." Alex promised.

 

"That makes me feel safe with you." The kid said, now beaming in a grin. "Good." Alex smiled.

 

They continued forward, looking ahead...


	6. Chapter Six

Alex and the child reached a point in the Marshlands where it stopped raining. Alex disposed of his umbrella in an empty bucket.

 

Now they stood at a fork in the path; two diverting roads that went opposite ways. One way went left and upwards, towards the homes of Undyne and Napstablook. The other path went right and downwards, down a darker path.

 

"Woah man. Two paths. We should split up." The monster kid suggested. Alex nodded in agreement. "Right. You look for Undyne that way, and I'll go this way." Alex said, pointing left than right, respectively. The kid nodded.

 

"I'll yell if I spot her." He said, running up the left path and tripping one more before getting up again and disappearing.

 

Alex started down the lower, darker path.

 

As Alex became enveloped in darkness, all other sounds faded away, being drowned by the sounds of rushing water. Alex used the flashlight in his phone to see ahead of him. He found that he was walking on metal grates, and the rushing water was below them.

 

Alex was glad that he hadn't sent the kid down this path.

 

He walked out into a clearing, where more natural light shown down and illuminated his path.

 

Little did he know the mistake he had just made.

 

"Stop!" A gruff female voice echoed through the cavern. Alex turned towards the source of the voice.

 

To his left, up on a path higher up than his, there stood Undyne in her full body armor. She removed her helmet, revealing her humanoid fish-like features, tied back red hair, and eyepatch.

 

"Undyne!" Alex exclaimed, lacking anything else to say. "Ah, good! You already know my name! That means we can skip the introductions and get right to me taking your SOUL!" Undyne bellowed, holding up a glowing blue spear. It was a lighter shade of blue than the other blue weapons that Alex had encountered. He doubted not moving would work here.

 

"Actually, I haven't introduced myself yet." Alex pointed out before turning and making a run down the metal grate path.

 

"It doesn't matter! Soon you'll be dead!" Undyne cackled haughtily. She threw her spear at him with a loud grunt. Alex turned quickly, cursing as he ducked down to avoid a spear in his neck. It flew over him and got stuck in the grate. Alex picked up his pace.

 

Undyne, apparently possessing some kind of unique SOUL power of her own, summoned more spears and fired them Alex's way. Alex jumped forward to avoid one, sidestepped another, stopped and jumped around yet another, and sidestepped once more before jumping into another cave opening.

 

"You're fast, human! Almost a challenge! Keheheh!" "Maybe we could talk this out?" Alex suggested as a dry joke. "Heh! You're funny, human. Shame your humor won't be missed down here!" Undyne said.

 

A series of spears shot into the cave, landing in the grates in a line at Alex's feet.

 

"You'll be seeing me again human." Undyne warned.

 

The grates began to shudder beneath Alex, and down it fell underneath him. Alex flailed his arms, falling into a it of darkness. Undyne's cackling was slowly drowned out by the sounds of the waterfall...

 

***

 

Alex slowly lifted his head, groaning lowly. He felt like he'd just woken up from a dull, numbing sleep. The top half of his body laid on a metal grate, and his lower half dangled at the base of the waterfall. His head felt painfully light. He was surrounded by garbage.

 

Alex turned onto his back and looked up, but he couldn't see from how high he had fallen.

 

Alex got to his feet slowly. His arms and legs hurt, so he stretched them out. His head still hurt like crazy. He felt the back of his head. When he pulled his hand back and looked down at his palm, there was blood all over his hand.

 

Alex sighed, cleaning his hand off in the water. He opened up the first aid pouch attached to the back of his pants, and pulled out a cloth pad and some gauze tape, as well as some ointment. He rubbed his wound down in the cream, placed the pad firmly to the back of his head, and wrapped his head in the gauze tape.

 

He let out another long sigh as he started walking downstream.

 

~~~

 

Alex finally reached dry land and continued down a dry path. Hi shoes and pants were wet, and he didn't smell too good either after wading around in all that garbage. He sighed once more, reaching a clearing in the path. There he saw Sans sitting at another wooden post. Surprised to see him, Alex walked to the post.

 

"Sans?" "Hey there, bud. You look woah!... You look... Haven't had your best day, huh?" "Yeah, you could say that. What're you doing here?" "I'm working. Oh, actually, I'm on break now. More jobs mean more legally required breaks after all. I'm headed to Grillby's. Wanna come?" Sans offered.

 

"Grillby's? You mean the restaurant all the way back in Snowdin?" Alex asked skeptically. Sans nodded. "Yep." Alex's stomach growled loudly. "Mhmm. You haven't eaten anything, right?" "Yeah, guess not. Forgot about it." Alex admitted.

 

"C'mon. Follow me. I got a shortcut." Sans said, walking back down the way Alex had come. Alex followed behind Sans.

 

He blinked...

 

...and they were suddenly inside Grillby's.

 

Alex stumbled dizzily, almost tripping. They'd gone from the cold, wet atmosphere of the Marshlands to the warm interior of Grillby's restaurant. They sat down at the front counter.

 

"You good there?" Sans asked. "Yeah, I'm fine. Just...wasn't expecting that." "Heheh. That's fine." Sans said with a shrug.

 

They ordered food: Alex got a burger and fries, Sans got an order of fries. Alex glanced over his shoulder occasionally, looking around the restaurant. Monsters, some of which he'd already encountered, were all sitting at tables. Grillby: the waiter, the owner, and the founder (who also happened to be a creature solely composed of fire), went back into the kitchen to prepare the food.

 

"So, how's that journey of yours been so far?" Sans asked. Alex shrugged. "Okay, I guess." "What happened to the noggin?" Sans asked, pointing to the bandage around Alex's head. "Had my first run-in with Undyne." "Gotcha. You better be careful out there. Everything you do out there's gonna have an effect on how your journey ends." Sans warned.

 

"I'll keep that in mind. Didn't realize I was gonna be judged at the finish line." Alex nodded, cracking a joke.

 

"How's Papyrus doing?" Alex asked. "Eh. He's...well he's got a lot to think about, lemme just say. He's been worrying about you, what with Undyne and all that. He seems convinced that you're different; that you're gonna change things for the better." Sans said.

 

"What do you think?" Alex asked. Sans only shrugged. "Doesn't matter."

 

Grillby served Alex and Sans their orders. Alex stared down lustfully at his cheeseburger. He took one bite, and was suddenly in a trance-like state. He took two big bites of his burger, filling his mouth to the point where he was barely able to chew.

 

"Don't choke on that." Sans said with a chuckle. Alex's burger was soon gone completely, and he moved on to his fries.

 

Alex's surroundings darkened, but his SOUL did not appear. "Hey, I need to ask you something." Sans said. Alex turned to him; it was like a spotlight had been shined down on them, and time had frozen. Sans tapped his fingers on the counter.

 

"You ever heard of a talking flower?" Sans asked. Alex's brow furrowed. "Yeah. Why?" "So you know about the Echo Flowers." Sans said. "Oh. Yeah I do." Alex said. He'd had another talking flower in mind.

 

Sans leaned in close. "Papyrus tells me that, whenever no one's around, a flower will whisper to him. It'll tell him dreams, compliments, hopes, fears...predictions. I think someone's using an Echo Flower to play a trick on him. Keep an eye out for me, kay?" Alex nodded.

 

Everything normalized again. Sans got up and poured his fries on Alex's plate; he hadn't touched them. "Welp, my break's coming to an end. I cannot believe you pulled me away from my work for SO long. Oh, you got the tab right?" Sans asked. Grillby set the bill down in front of Alex. It read: '10,000G'.

 

"Holy crap dude!" Alex exclaimed. Sans burst out laughing, clutching his gut and doubling over. Alex realized he'd been tricked. He rolled his eyes and chuckled, standing up with his plate of fries. "Oh boy that was too good. You should've seen the look on your face." "Haha. You got me good, Sans." Alex laughed. Sans sighed.

 

"Ahh let's head back."

 

~~~

 

Alex stumbled again, carefully clutching his plate of fries. "I'm never gonna get used to that." Alex muttered, eating a finger-full of fries. "Wouldn't expect ya to. You be careful out there. Most people who've gone up against Undyne have come out way worse than you did. And that ain't gonna be the last you see of her." Sans warned.

 

"Right. I'll have to figure something out there." Alex said. Sans nodded in agreement.

 

"Oh, by the way, have you been passing by any golden stars perchance?" Sans asked. Alex nodded. "Yeah a few." "Make sure to touch those whenever you see. Those come in real handy." Sans advised. "Right. I will. See ya, thanks, and say hi to Papyrus for me." "Next time I see him." Sans promised. Alex continued down the path.

 

Heading back into a dark section of the path, Alex almost immediately found another golden star. He touched it. A text box appeared in front of him. It read: "The genuine advice of a sarcastic friend fills you with, like, determination or something."

 

Alex felt re-energized suddenly. He stood and walked down the path with newfound vigor and a plate of fries.

 

Alex found himself surrounded by blue light. The path also turned blue, illuminated by the Echo Flowers all around him. It was beautiful, peaceful. Alex walked past a sign.

 

"Wishing Room"

 

Alex looked up. The lights looked like stars twinkling in a pitch black night sky. "Wow." Alex sighed before munching on some more fries.

 

"I wish I could get back to the surface."

 

Alex turned around, towards the unfamiliar voice. It was an Echo Flower. It repeated itself. Alex certainly didn't recognize the voice. It sounded like a sort of child's voice, perhaps pre-teen. Alex continued down the bright paths, listening to more Echo Flowers:

 

"I want to go to the surface, so me and my sister can see the sun. That's my wish."

 

"I wish I didn't have this lonely feeling in my heart."

 

"I wish for my Dad to get better."

 

"I wish monsters would stop judging me because I'm short."

 

"I wish to go to colleg."

 

"I WISH TO BE A MEMBER OF THE ROYAL GUARD!"

 

Alex listened carefully to all these voices. He walked up to yet another one and listened:

 

"Oh...I'm so lonely...everyone I help always leaves me alone again...I have nobody anymore...no children, no husband...I...I wish Alex had never left me... and no one came."

 

The Flower began to repeat itself. The first voice sounded like Toriel. Alex stood straight, confused and disturbed. But the second voice sounded like...

 

"Howdy there, traveler!"

 

Alex turned around quickly. In the middle of his path, there was Flowey. He had a big grin on his face that just urked Alex. "What do you want?" Alex questioned. "Just checkin' on my favorite human. So, still walkin' the pth, ain't ya? Good for you!" Flowey encouraged. Alex scoffed. "Get outta here. I'm already sick of you." He said.

 

"Hey, not nice! I said you were my favorite!" Flowey defended with false offense. "That supposed to mean something?" "Well yeah! Of all the humans that have fallen, you've been my favorite. You know why?" Alex shrugged. "Go on. Ask me why. Humor me." Flowey urged with a sly expression.

 

"Why?" Alex asked with a shrug.

 

"Because you're real.

 

"The first few humans died quickly. The next only made it so far. Of course, Frisk was the exception that got all savage and went the Genocide Route on us. I didn't like the humans before because it was too simple for them. 'I wanna go home!" Boom! Dead. Done.

 

"Frisk: I hated Frisk because he was a liar, a manipulative liar. I knew it, but he stuck it 'til the very end, and cut through me, the last monster.

 

"But you...you're complicated. You have all these emotions, and your choices are hard to predict. You have these 'godly' morals of honesty and sincerity. And the pain, ooh. It practically oozes in your words, the way you talk about others and keep things off of you. Something's eatin' ya buddy, I can see it in you.

 

"You're all out there, heart on your sleeve... real.

 

"But I'm rattling on. You got a girl to get back to, right?" Flowey asked sardonically. "What the hell's that supposed to mean?" Alex asked. "Well, you know, it's been what? Almost two days now? By now, that sweet little Jasmine of yours must think you're dead. 'In a better place.' Bye bye sweetie." Flowey mocked, disappearing in the ground before Alex could respond.

 

Alex had never considered that before. He knew surely Jasmine must be worried, but did she presume him dead? He'd been gone over two days. Up there, it would've seemed to her that he'd disappeared without a trace. Left and gone, perhaps. Up and left. Soon as those thoughts were in his head, he pushed them out.

 

He knew her. She wouldn't stop looking until she found a body. That confidence put his mind at ease.

 

Alex turned around again. A cat-like monster with a large head was watching him with a big smile. Its head went up to Alex's waist. It hopped over to Alex, speaking in an energetic, high-pitched voice.

 

"Hoi! I'm Temmie!" She said.

 

Alex's train of thought crashed, and he blinked blankly a few times. "...hi Temmie. I'm Alex."

 

"Ooh! Alex! Good name. Strong name. Yah yah! You is lost?"

 

"Uh...kinda, I guess." Alex answered shortly.

 

"Ohkies! How bout you follows Temmie to Temmie Village? Yah yah! You comes to Temmie Village!"

 

Temmie turned and excitedly started down another path. Alex shrugged, ate some of his fries, and followed Temmie...


	7. Chapter Seven

Alex was led by Temmie into Temmie Village, a quaint little town with small wooden building on either side of the road. Other creatures that looked nearly identical to Temmie were hopping busily all around the town. Upon seeing Alex coming into town behind Temmie, they all ran up to him and quickly began introducing themselves one after the other.

Temmie laughed. "Alex, these Temmie's friends. This is Temmie."

"Hoi! I'm Temmie! And this is my friend Temmie!"

"Hoi! I'm Temmie, and don't forget my friend Temmie!"

"Hoi hoi hoi! I am Temmieeee! You human? Such a cutes!"

"I'm Bob."

Alex chuckled. "Heheh. Pleasure meeting all ya'll." He said with a wave. The Temmies all smiled and nodded, going back to what they had been doing before. "Come come human. You must meet Temmie's friend at Tem Shop. Yah yah! You check out Tem Shop!"

Temmie led Alex with haste to the Tem Shop, and let him go into the little tent by himself. Alex got down on his knees to enter.

"Hoi! I'm Temmie! Welcome to Tem Shop!" The Temmie at the counter sang; or rather, the Temmie at the cardboard box that served as her counter. She wore a striped sweater and had longer hair than the other Temmies. Alex smiled politely, walking on his knees to the front of the cardboard sign that had 'Tem Shop' painted on it.

"Hey there, Temmie. Your friends were telling me that I should come and check out your shop." Alex greeted.

"Yah yah! Temmie friends very supportive of Tem's Tem Shop. I sell Temmie Flakes, and use the mons to pay for colleg! Temmie then pursue higher educations. You wants to buy?"

"Whatcha got here?" Alex asked.

"Temmie Flakes! They cost the 1G for regular and the 50G for premium (with insurance policy)." Temmie answered with a nod.

"Oh. Well I don't have much on me. Here's 1G. I'll give it a try." Alex suggested, holding a coin out. Temmie took it, placing it in a jar named 'Savingz'. She grabbed a cereal box of Temmie Flakes; a smaller box, and gave it to Alex.

Alex opened the box and poured a few Flakes into his mouth. He chewed on the Flakes slowly and thoughtfully, nodding in approval.

"It's got a nice sugar coating to it. I like it." Alex said, setting down another gold coin. "I'll have one more." Temmie grinned again, handing him another box.

Temmie looked inside of her savings jar. She suddenly gasped and ran to Alex, holding the open jar.

"Look! Lookie!" She exclaimed urgently. Alex looked into the jar. The golden coins were all piled up on one side from Temmie holding the jar sideways, and the coins reached up and passed a line of red tape wrapped around near the top of the jar.

"Mons make quota now! Now Temmie can go to colleg!" Temmie said excitedly.

"That's great, Temmie!" Alex said with some genuine enthusiasm in his tone.

"So good! This Temmie's dream! Dream come true! I go now, and make you proudz! Stay here!" Temmie said, sliding out of the shop. Alex sat down and waited.

A few minutes passed...

Temmie slid back into the shop, holding a rolled up certificate, and wearing a black cap and gown. She had the biggest grin on her face. Alex couldn't help but smile.

"Tem go to colleg. Tem learn many things, like how to sell new items! Yah yah!" Temmie cheered.

"Hey, that's fantastic! I'm proud of ya, Temmie." Alex said sincerely, with a smile.

"You...youz proud of Temmie?" Temmie asked slowly, her eyes beginning to water.

Alex nodded. "Yes I am. Very." He answered, patting her head. Temmie, her eyes teary, hopped over her box, made her way to Alex, and hugged him.

"This is best day of Temmie's life!" Temmie exclaimed happily, wiping her eyes off on Alex's shirt.

***

Alex walked onto another opening of metal grates. He braced himself as he stepped out into the light. And indeed, he got exactly what he was expecting.

"You survived better than I expected, human! Let's try this again now!" Undyne shouted from a ledge. Alex had to look up and to his left to see her. He made eye contact with her; their glares pierced through each other in their own unspoken ways.

Undyne lifted her spear, and Alex made a mad dash forward.

Undyne did not throw her spear at Alex as he began to sprint, but rather, she ran on the ledge after him with her hand extended toward him. A series of spears suddenly popped up from the ground behind him, barely scraping his heels. Alex cursed under his breath. Spears popped up directly in front of him. Alex jumped between two.

Undyne through the spear in her hand at Alex with a loud grunt. Alex glanced back. The spear landed in front of Alex. He tripped over it, hitting the metal grate floor hard. Alex groaned after landing with a sick thud on his left arm. His arm quickly went numb. In a state of shock, he rolled onto his back.

Another spear rose from the ground. His breath escaped him, and everything got hazy.

A spear had pierced him through the stomach...

***Loading...***

Alex gasped and groaned out loudly. "Jas...mine?" Alex looked around. He was sitting on the floor, at the entrance of a cave system. He clutched his stomach, still trying to shake off his daze. His wound was gone.

Sans stood to Alex's right at the entrance of the cave. "Oh hey, it's you. I'm guessing things didn't go so well with Undyne the second time round?" He asked.

Alex stood up, confused. He felt...perfectly fine. A little more fatigued, but he was fine. He looked up at Sans, who only shrugged:

"Yeah yeah, I know. 'Never gonna get used to it'. It's weird. Now get movin'. Time's a wastin'." Sans said, gesturing for him to get moving.

Alex nodded. "Right. Thanks for that tip." Alex thanked before putting distance between himself, and Sans and the golden star...

~~~

"You survived better than I expected, human! Let's tr- Hey I was talking!" Undyne was cut short by Alex not even hesitating to go into a sprint. Now that he was a few steps ahead of Undyne, he was able to completely outrun her attacks.

Undyne leapt down onto Alex's path, clutching her spear in both her hands and growling in frustration. "Enough games! Enough cowardly fleeing! Face me, human!!" Undyne demanded.

"I'm fine, thanks!" Alex shouted over his shoulder. Undyne stayed at his heels, getting ready to hurl her spear.

She threw it. Alex turned a sharp right corner. She missed.

Alex huffed, rushing through the tall grass to get away from Undyne. He still remembered the feelings that had gone through him, both physically and mentally. It made him feel sick. He wasn't gonna let that happen again.

"Human!!" Undyne screeched behind him. Alex turned another corner...

...and ran into a dead end.

Alex turned around. The monster kid was running towards him. "Yo yo, dude! I hear Undyne coming!" He said excitedly. Undyne emerged from the tall grass. The kid turned around. Both Undyne and Alex's eyes fell protectively on the kid.

"There she is!" The kid said, hopping excitedly towards Alex.

"No!" Undyne shouted, her voice echoing across the cave.

Everything fell silent. The kid slowly turned away from Alex towards Undyne, a confused expression on his face. Alex knew that the cat was out of the bag now, and the anticipation of that pained Alex more than he wanted to say.

"Why?" The kid asked, backed towards Alex.

"Stop going towards him!" Undyne shouted again, holding her hand out. Alex knelt down next to the kid, so Undyne couldn't make any moves on him.

"Go on. Undyne will take you home." Alex said softly to the boy. He slowly walked the boy to Undyne, holding his hand. Undyne knelt down. Alex took advantage and dashed into the grass, sliding on his side to avoid Undyne's spear.

"Wait! Come back!" The kid shouted.

Alex kept running, and he didn't look back...

~~~

Once he was far enough away from Undyne, Alex slowed down to a brisk walk, his hands sliding into his pockets. He felt terrible, running away from the kid and leaving him so confused. He was paying an awful price now...

First Toriel, then the kid, then Temmie, and even Papyrus for that matter. He was making friendships and promises that he wasn't gonna be able to keep, and that was tearing at him.

Alex crossed a long bridge, over a long chasm. He was deep in his thoughts...

"Hey."

Alex turned around. The kid was on the bridge behind him, halfway across. Undyne stood safely on the other side of the bridge. Alex's eyes met the boy's eyes.

"So, um...Undyne says that you're the human that...that fell down here, right?"

Alex nodded. "Yes."

"Oh...well I don't m...well...Undyne says you're bad and...and I can't be friends with you anymore." The kid says, turning away from him.

For a moment, time stopped. Alex's eyes were fixed on the kid, since Undyne had put her helmet back on. Alex's eyes stared at the back of the boy's head sadly:

He had made the mistake of associating the monster kid with his own little brother. Now, it was like the little boy in Alex's memories who used to dance like an idiot and tell terrible jokes was the one saying these things to Alex. It brought back some painful family memories, and that hurt a lot...

"Oof!" The bridge rocked suddenly, and the kid tripped. Unable to stop himself, the kid started to roll off the edge.

"Caleb!!" Alex screamed, running towards the boy. Undyne shouted out, but there was nothing she could do. Alex threw himself down onto the bridge. He grabbed the boy's tail with his left arm and swung him back onto the bridge safely.

"Oh-oh my god..." The boy shuddered.

Alex stood the boy up and hugged him. "Go. Go home. Go home now. Okay?" The boy nodded, running past Undyne and leaving her alone with Alex.

Alex turned and ran again. Undyne hesitated for a moment before running after him. Alex huffed, his chest starting to hurt from running. He forced himself to continue on, and he didn't dare slow down. Undyne began to huff as well.

She chased him to another bridge over a pit of lava. They were in the Hotlands now. Alex wiped his brow, reaching the edge of the bride. He was starting to sweat already. On the other side of the bridge stood another sentry station, on a narrow sliver of land. Another bridge connected on the other side. Sans sat at the station.

"Sans!" Alex exclaimed, stopping suddenly at the station. Undyne charged at him. Instinctively, Alex turned and grabbed Undyne's right arm, throwing her over his shoulder. She fell hard on the ground with an "Umph!!"

Alex slammed his hands on the counter of the sentry station. Sans was asleep at his post. Alex attempted to wake him up. "Sans! Sans! Sans!!! Lazy bones! Friggin...!" Alex slapped Sans. He didn't wake then either. He was too exhausted.

"That lazy little..." Undyne muttered, getting up slowly.

Alex rushed across the second bridge, quickly crossing it. Undyne stomped slowly after him, gasping desperately for air. "S...stop, human...!" Undyne huffed weakly. Alex turned to her.

Undyne collapsed on the ground in front of him, her helmet rolling off. She had passed out. Alex didn't think much of it initially, and was about to leave her, when it occurred to him that she was a fish, and they were roasting over a boiling hot lava pit...

Alex dragged her body fully across the bridge, doing his best to be gentle. Turning around, he noticed a conveniently placed water cooler standing not too far behind him. Alex wrapped the sleeves of his coat around his waist, then began working to take all of Undyne's armor off. He muttered as he did so:

"'You heard it said...ugh, love your neighbor and hate your enemy. I say to you...love your enemy and continue to pray for your persecutors...' Wow it is hot." Alex sighed.

Once all of Undyne's armor was fully removed, Alex went to the water cooler. Thankfully, Undyne had decided to wear a black tank top and brown cargo pants under her armor. As Alex drank some water, he observed Undyne's bodice, discerning both the humanoid and fish-like parts of her body.

"Interesting mix." Alex thought aloud.

Alex tipped the water cooler over on its side and unscrewed the jug of water from the stand. He carefully picked it up, hoisting the full jug onto his shoulder. He carefully carried it over to Undyne, then proceeded to pour out its contents all over Undyne, until hardly any water was left.

Taking one last sip of what was left in the jug, Alex fixed his coat wrapped around his waist, and began walking away, singing to himself the chorus of Take Your Time.

Undyne suddenly regained consciousness. She coughed, turning over onto her stomach. She got to her knees, noticing that all of her armor had been taken apart and scattered around her. Next, she noticed the empty water jug. That's what had rehydrated her, but who had poured the water onto her?

Finally, she noticed Alex walking away. She stood, ready to resume her pursuit!

Wait...if not one else was around...that meant that HE had saved her life.

Undyne's arms fell down to her sides. He had his opportunity to kill her, but he had both shown Mercy AND Saved her life. Now, without another word between them, he was leaving, and even singing.

Undyne collected her armor, and began walking home. Their fight was over, and she had lost...


	8. Chapter Eight

Alex stood at a large metal door leading into a large metal laboratory; he still was in the Hotlands. The big structure stood just a little ways down from where the water cooler had been placed.

Alex knocked on the door, and it opened with a WHISH!

Alex walked into an open tile room. Ahead was a wooden table, with an escalator at the end of the room. To his left was a desk with a large computer screen. On the screen was Alex being shown from a higher angle. Another desk stood next to that one, and on it stood tall stacks of VHS tapes.

The chair in front of the computer swiveled around, revealing another lizard-looking monster with a lab coat and prescription glasses.

"Hello." She greeted with a smile and an awkward wave. Alex stared at her with an odd expression, waving back slowly.

"Oh! Sorry, let me get this thing." She said, turning around in her chair and shutting the computer screen off. She turned back to Alex and stood up from her chair.

"So, uh... You must be tired from all that walking th-that you did, heheh. Why don't you have a seat...?" She offered, gesturing to the wooden table. A glass of water and a sandwich were set in front of one of the chairs.

Alex sat at the table. "Oh, the food is for you, in case you were...in case you were wondering. It's, uh, only cheese." She said. Alex began to eat. She sat across the table.

She awkwardly tapped her fingers on the table, and silence quickly filled the room. She chuckled awkwardly.

"Heheh...so, I'm Dr. Alphys. You can just call me Alphys, if you like." She introduced herself.

Alex swallowed his food. "Pleasure. I'm-"

"Alex. The human. I know..." Alphys said with a nod.

Alex took a sip of his water.

"Oh, and nice to meet you too." Alphys quickly added.

More silence...

"How exactly did you hear about me?" Alex suddenly asked.

"Huh?"

"My name and that I came a long way to get here. Who told you that?" Alex leaned forward in his chair.

Alphys chuckled nervously. "Well, you see, uh, heheh, nobody really necessarily told me. I, uh...watched you on the computer..." She finally admitted.

"You watched me on the computer?" Alex slowly repeated in the form of a question, raising his eyebrow.

Alphys nodded and walked to the screen, turning it on again. It showed Alex at the table.

"Why?" Alex demanded.

"Well, you see, I'm King Asgore's Royal Scientist. I study whatever it is he needs me to study, and the most recent case was...you. My cameras picked up your arrival in the Ruins, and I sent word to Asgore. He ordered me to watch you and track you..."

"But...?" Alex asked, going to the computer.

Alphys pressed a few keys on the keyboard, and 4 split-screens appeared:

The first screen on the top-left showed Alex with Toriel at her dining room table.

The second screen at the top-right showed Alex and Papyrus talking the night he had told Alex about his dream.

The third screen at the bottom-left showed Alex fighting the dog with the blue swords.

The fourth and final screen at the bottom-right showed Alex using the water cooler to save Undyne from dying of heat exhaustion.

"Well..." Alphys continued, "As I continued to watch I...got interested. Compared to the other humans that I've seen, you were...well, haha, you were different. Everyone just pushed forward and died quickly as a result, but you did more. You talked. You challenged everything that we thought we knew about humans. And your cause was worthy of television:

"A love to get back to.

"I-I could've stopped you or had Undyne find you sooner, but you had me so captivated and...and I started rooting for you...? I-I'm sorry if I overstepped your boundaries." Alphys stuttered.

Alex let out a long sigh. "You were just doing your job. How far back does your footage of me go? Show me." Alex said.

"It might take a minute." Alphys said, typing on the computer.

\- - -

We now shift our focus away from Alex and Alphys, and travel all the way back to where his journey began: in the Ruins. We re-enter Toriel's humble home, where she is sitting by her fireplace, reading up on snails. It is almost night now, late in the evening. It is a calm and quiet atmosphere, blissful silence surrounding the quaint home.

*knock knock knock*

"Someone at the door? At this hour?" Toriel thought aloud.

She closed her book and walked to the door. The person at her door knocked again, louder and more insistently this time.

"I'm coming!" Toriel shouted before reaching the door. She unlocked it and opened it.

Standing on the other side of the door was a girl, a human girl. Her hair was long, curly, and black. Her eyes were a shimmering brown. Her skin was tanned, golden and sunkissed. She wore black cargo pants and boots, and a teal tank top. A white sweater was wrapped around her waist.

She was struggling to stand, and looked as if she were in pain.

"Oh my goodness. Come in." Toriel said, wrapping her arm around the girl and helping her limp inside.

Toriel sat the girl down in her chair bu the fire, them hurriedly went to shut the door then get something for her visitor to drink.

"Are you in pain?" Toriel asked, bringing her a glass of cool water.

"Agh. Yes. My legs. I can barely walk." She answered quickly, drinking from the glass.

Toriel made quick work in healing her. The girl moved her legs around, no longer feeling the pains of her fall.

"Wow! That was fast! Thank you."

"You're welcome child. Now, what caused you to fall down here?" Toriel asked her, kneeling by her. 

"I was looking for someone. My boyfriend. He's been missing for two or three days now. I've searched again and again for hours but couldn't find him. I was about to come back down the mountain when I tripped and fell down that hole and ended up wandering here." She explained.

"You poor thing. You're lucky to have made it here in one piece." Toriel said.

"Well, fortunate maybe. Besides, I didn't see anyone or anything on the way here...well, there was this giant frog."

"You're not surprised?" Toriel asked, raising an eyebrow.

"I've seen worse. Besides, after that giant frog, nothing really surprises me, or nothing else will...probably."

"What's your name?" Toriel asked...

~~~

Alex stared at the computer, watching himself and Toriel walk through the Ruins, towards her home.

"This is the earliest that your cameras picked up on me?" Alex asked.

"Yes. I was actually watching this anime called- actually nevermind the name, but I was watching some episodes of it when my buzzers went off and you popped up onscreen." Alphys said.

Alex sighed, pacing in a circle.

"Are you...angry with me?" Alphys asked carefully.

Alex glanced sideways at her. "Slightly. I've not much reason to really, so I suppose I can let it go." Alex decided.

"Even with Mettaton?" Alphys asked.

"Mettaton? What's Mettaton?" Alex asked.

"Uh... Mettaton is a robot thing that I made. Under Asgore's orders, I may have, uh, made some modifications that, uh, include...a desire to kill you? This was before I started rooting for you." Alphys said quickly.

Alex exhaled slowly.

BOOM!!!

Alex spun around, holding his left arm out to keep Alphys in her seat behind him.

On the other side of the room, a giant robot had crashed through the wall. Alex observed it:

It looked like a giant Gameboy om a unicycle, with two arms and Mickey Mouse hands, one of which was holding a microphone. Its screen depicted a pixelated letter 'M'.

It spoke in an enthusiastic male voice:

"Hello, hello one and all! On this week's show, we have some exciting games to play, and an early plot twist! We have a human contestant this week! Isn't that just exciting?!"

Alex leaned towards Alphys. "What the hell is that and what is it doing?"

"That's Mettaton: he's an entertainment personality that I made. The one that I reprogrammed." Alphys explained in a whisper.

Mettaton rolled over, pulling Alex out into the room. "What's your name, darling?"

Alex looked around in confusion, trying to figure out whom Mettaton was addressing.

"Camera's over there, brown eyes." Mettaton said quickly, pointing with one hand and slapping Alex on the back with the other.

Alex looked into a small camera towards the ceiling. "I'm Alex."

"Oh, Alex! What a great name! Historically!" Mettaton's screen became a picture of the Earth.

"According to my databanks, there was indeed an Alexander the Great in human history, renowned in his time for being an unstoppable conquerer that would kill any and all who stood in his way. Haha! Is that what you are?"

Alex shook his head. "Wha? No, I-"

"That seems to be human nature's pattern, doesn't it?" Mettaton interrupted, speaking in a low tone of voice.

"So, folks! Here we have Alex: our eighth human guest, our third human contestant; this handsome young man whose won the hearts of every monster he's mets shall begin his next quest! A series of trials that will test his Determination to get home. I'm sure you 15 followers won't wanna miss this. It all happens...after our commercial break!"

Mettaton rolled back into an elevator. He pointed at Alex.

"I want you on the 20th floor in 5 minutes, Alex. Otherwise, this game show will turn into a hunting show... See you soon!" The elevator doors closed and he was gone.

Alex turned to Alphys. "I've never seen him like that before."

"What? Like what?" Alex asked.

"Those threats. Mettaton's NEVER used a tone like that before, not even in his dramas. He must also harbor a deep resentment for humans, after Frisk..." Alphys observed.

"Fantastic." Alex sighed, going to the elevator and pressing the 'Up' button.

"Glad I fixed that elevator..." Alphys muttered to herself before addressing Alex, "So you're gonna go up against Mettaton?"

"You left me no choice." Alex answered, sticking his hands in his pockets as the elevator doors closed.

\- - -

"Please, my child. I'm not saying you shouldn't go, but you cannot go now! It's too late in the night!" Toriel shouted, stamping after her visitor, who was walking down towards the exit to the Ruins.

"Look, Miss Toriel, thank you for all your help, but I can't stay longer. You said Alex fell down here two days ago, right? That means he's got a big head start already. I'm sorry."

She walked out of the door and closed it behind her.

"She's going to get herself killed. It's too soon..." Toriel muttered with a shake of her head before going back...

The girl hurried to the next door, but was stopped by a yellow flower popping up in front of her.

"Woah there, girly. Where you goin' in such a hurry? You didn't even give me a chance to say hi." Flowey said with a playfully hurt smile.

"Look Flowey, I'm sorry for being rude and not saying anything, but I'm in a big hurry." She said, walking past him again.

"Looking for Alex, right?"

She turned around. "Yes. Yes! Have you seen him?"

Flowey nodded sadly.

"Yes... I saw Alex. He fell down here with a hurt leg and those doughy brown eyes. He was so so Determined to get back to you. He crawled and crawled through the snow, but alas, he was killed mercilessly by monsters." Flowey concluded with a solemn shake of his head.

Her hands covered her mouth in shock. She shook her head.

"No..."

"I'm afraid it is so, my darling. Is there anything I can do to help ease your pain? I can't imagine what hearing this news must be like, and I just hate to be the one to have to deliver it." Flowey consoled, one side of his mouth tugging upwards slightly.

She shook her head again, "I won't believe it until I see it." She decided.

She hurriedly went out the door and exited the Ruins.

"You idiot." Flowey growled, disappearing into the ground again.

The girl exited out into the blowing snow of the Winter night. Midnight had fallen over Snowdin Forest. The howling wing swirled snow into her face. She stepped forward onto the beaten path, and bumped into someone.

"Oof! I'm sorry!" She said.

"Oh, now worries. I should'a waited for ya a couple steps back." A deep voice replied.

"You were waiting for me?" She asked in surprise.

"I'm Sans. Sans the skeleton. And you're the wild timeline that forced her way here, into things." Sans said.

"What?"

"Just follow me." Sans said, turning around and beginning to walk. She followed Sans.

She blinked...

...and suddenly they were in front of the door to a house.

She stumbled and fell in the snow. Sans turned around, chuckling a bit. "Nice one." He commented.

"Yeah, thanks. Where are we?" She asked, picking herself up and brushing the snow off.

"My home." Sans opened the door, and they entered. It was only then that she was able to see that Sans was literally a skeleton with clothes on.

"Hey bro, I brought a girl home!" Sans called out.

Another tall skeleton called back to Sans from the living room.

"Shut up! We both know you went to Grillby's. It doesn't matter. I was trying to reach you! Mettaton's show is up this week, and you won't believe whose on... Is that a human?" The tall skeleton ran over to them.

"This is my bro, Papyrus." Sans introduced. Papyrus studied the girl closely.

"Hi, I'm-"

"Oh my god! I can't believe it!" Papyrus exclaimed.

"What?" The girl asked.

"It's you! You're the girl from the picture! Ha!"

"You mean the one...?" Sans asked.

"Yes! That one! That's Jasmine!"

"Hold up, bro. We can't know for sure until we test her." Sans said, turning back to the girl.

"Yes, yes you're right." Papyrus leaned forward in an attempt to be intimidating, looking into the girl's eyes.

"What is your name, female?" Papyrus questioned.

"Jasmine." She answered with a slow nod of slight disbelief.

Sans and Papyrus gasped...


	9. Chapter 9

Sans and Papyrus gasped.

Jasmine looked back and forth between the two of them, "What? What is it??"

"Alex was working to get back to you since he got here! If he's still going and you're here... Oh god. The Underground's never had two human SOUL timelines before..." Sans began to pace.

"Alex! Is he alive?" Jasmine asked them.

"Yes! He is!" Papyrus answered quickly.

"I... I was just told he died." Jasmine admitted, confused.

"No, he's alive! I'll show you!" Papyrus exclaimed, pulling her to the couch in front of the TV.

"Sans bought this at a pawn shop yesterday. I said it was a waste of money." Papyrus explained on a quick side note.

"It was a cheap deal." Sans defended.

"Look!" Papyrus said, pointing forward at the TV.

Jasmine looked forward and gasped loudly, "My baby!" She squealed.

"Welcome back, folks! We're here with Alex the human, ready for our first game!" Mettaton announced.

Mettaton gestured to Alex, who stood at a podium with a microphone, a buzzer, and his name written on the podium. Alex awkwardly waved at the TV.

As Mettaton explained the rules of the quiz show, Sans and Papyrus and Jasmine all exchanged glances.

"What's Alex doing on TV?" Jasmine asked.

"He must've made it to the Hotlands if he's that far already." Sans said.

"Is there anything we can do?" Papyrus asked.

"Yeah. We watch." Sans answered.

Mettaton turned to Alex, holding a stack of question cards, "Now, are you ready, Alex?"

"Is it too late to use the bathroom?"

"Haha! Isn't he funny? Let's begin! Question 1: What is the official ceremonial color of the Royal Guard?"

Alex shook his head. He thought about Papyrus and his scarf.

"Umm... Ooh! Red!"

"Correct! Question 2: What does the color red represent in the Royal Guard?"

"Um...oh, I don't know... Strength?" Alex guessed.

Alex yelped in pain as electricity ran up his arms from the podium, "Tsk tsk. Sorry darling, the correct answer was courage."

"I knew that!" Papyrus yelled at the TV.

Jasmine watched with worry, looking at how sunken Alex's eyes suddenly looked, "That thing's gonna kill him if it keeps doing that."

"I think that's what Mettaton's hoping for." Sans observed.

"Question 3: Who is the head of the Royal Guard?"

"Undyne!" Alex answered quickly.

"Correct darling! Question 4: What instrument does Undyne secretly practice playing?"

"Heck if I know. Piano?"

"Correct! Three correct questions means our contestant is moving on to the next round! Stay tuned." The TV cut to commercials.

"I thought Undyne's piano was just for decoration." Papyrus scratched his head.

"Is there anything we can do? Can't we use one of your shortcuts, Sans?" Jasmine asked again impatiently.

"Not here. Not now. My shortcuts only work for certain places, in certain places, at certain times." Sans explained. Jasmine groaned in frustration.

"I see why he likes her." Papyrus whispered with little subtlety to Sans, over Jasmine's head.

"I heard that." Jasmine said.

"And her senses are so sharp! Amazing!" Papyrus exclaimed. Jasmine facepalmed and shook her head.

"This is unbelievable."

"I wonder if she can cook spaghetti." Papyrus whispered.

"I cook all the time. Of course I can cook spaghetti. It's easy." Jasmine said.

Papyrus' jaw dropped. He sat back and rubbed his forehead.

"Songs have been written about the feelings I feel..." Papyrus sighed.

"Welcome back folks! It's time for instructional cooking lessons with your host: me! Mettaton! Assisted by Alex, our contestant tonight. This portion of the show is brought to you by our sponsor: radio waves! Haha. Are you ready, Alex?"

"I'd literally rather be anywhere else." Alex answered, fixing his cooking apron.

"Great! Let's begin! Today we're cooking meatloaf!"

Alex unenthusiastically mixed the ingredients together in a bowl as Mettaton listed and described each of them. Once he was done, Mettaton took it to the oven. Alex watched as Mettaton placed it in and closed the oven. He paused.

"Uh...Metta-?"

Mettaton turned and threw a kitchen knife at Alex. Alex yelped, twisting his shoulders and ducking down to dodge it.

"You fool! The oven is preheated! Do you realize what you've done?! You're a disgrace to this kitchen! I will cut you up and turn you into a meatloaf!"

Mettaton screamed at Alex, chasing him around the entirety of the kitchen set and throwing anything he could get his hands on, including, but not limited to: an elegant array of cooking pots, pans, bowls, cabinets, the kitchen sink, butter knives, et cetera.

"Mettaton! Mettaton!! Don't forget about the show!" Alex shouted desperately, jumping on and off te counters to dodge the projectiles.

"Right!" Mettaton rolled to the counter, in front of the camera, "Put your meatloaf in the oven and slow bake for 45 minutes, and voila! Delicious!" Mettaton said, putting a finished meatloaf on the counter.

Alex reached for the switch on Mettaton's back. Mettaton slapped his hand away.

"Don't you touch me! That is inappropriate physical contact!" Mettaton shouted, chasing Alex offscreen with a cutting board.

The picture cut off, "Mettaton will return after these messages." The show cut to commercials again.

Jasmine began to pace back and forth across the living room, "This is the most ridiculous and stressful thing I've ever seen." Jasmine said with a tone of disbelief.

Sans and Papyrus eyed each other. "He wasn't kidding when he described her worry." Sans said.

Jasmine pointed threateningly at Sans. Sans raised his hands up in defense, "Just saying. Just a comment." Sans said quickly.

"Yeah. Uhuh." Jasmine agreed sarcastically.

"And now, a song from Mettaton." The TV announced.

Jasmine quickly sat down. The backdrop of a castle faded onscreen, and Mettaton fluttered down in a purple dress.

"Oh that looks so much better! Much more slimming that the teal dress." Papyrus commented.

"It's a box." Jasmine pointed out, irritated.

Mettaton began to sing as though it were a Broadway number, accompanied by piano.

"A star has fallen. Down to the Underground. See him walkin'. Yeah, he's got places to go. And he ain't stoppin'. He's got that poker face on, you'll never know. If. He's all in.

"Hark. I see some light in the dark, and it is stark. He's hit me right on the mark, shot in the heart. And it's tearin' me apart, just like a shark. Yikes. Oh from above, this human...

"...he's got star stuff! He's got eyes like diamonds and they cut rough. He's got a passionate fire cooking me tough. Oh no I've been shoved down this pitfall of love!

"That star stuff! Like the stars in the sky, he's passing on up. Leaving wishes in its wake. That star stuff! Caught like the twinkle in my eye, I'll always see but never be."

Mettaton finished his part with his hands in the air. The piano, instead of finishing on a final note, transitioned into the intro of another song. The camera panned over.

The TV showed Alex at the piano, dressed in a suit. He looked into the camera. Jasmine could see in his eyes that he wasn't happy with what he was about to do, but he was sucking it up. He began to sing with some half-heartedness.

"Yes, you caught my eye. As we walked on by. You could see from my face that I was...flying high.

"And I don't think our paths will cross again, but we shared a moment that will last to the end.

"You're beautiful. You're beautiful. You're beautiful, it's true. I saw your face in a crowded place. And I don't know what to do..."

Alex, instead of finishing the verse, played a quick solo with chord notes that he was about to sing. He started again.

"You're beautiful. You're beautiful. You're beautiful, it's true. There must be an angel with a smile on her face...when she thought up that I should be with you...

"But it's time to face the truth. I will never be with you."

Alex finished the song with a solemn chord. Loud applause could be heard. Mettaton began taking his rounds of bowing, while Alex drifted off camera.

Papyrus sniffed, "That was beautiful. Oh so touching."

Jasmine let out a long sigh, as if to say: "That was rough."

Sans shrugged, "He's a fan." He said to Jasmine, pointing at his brother with his thumb.

"So! What do you like to do, Jasmine? Can I call you Jasmine?" Papyrus asked.

"That is her name." Sans sighed.

"I don't know. I mean, I cook and I clean and I write and I animate. I'm also a nurse." Jasmine listed.

"Very cool! Also, what's an 'animate'?" Papyrus asked.

"Well it's...um...hmm... I'll just have to show you at some point. I don't how to explain it... Moving pictures!" Jasmine exclaimed suddenly.

The show came back on, showing Mettaton from behind, standing in front of a huge live audience.

"Well folks, we've reached the last segment of our show tonight." The audience 'aww'-ed at this.

"Yes yes, I know. It's been so much fun too. But now, it's the big brawl you've all been waiting for! A final showdown! To the death! The winner walks away! Are you ready!?" The audience roared in excitement.

The lights all came, revealing that Mettaton was standing in a large platform of an arena. The camera panned over to show Alex in his regular clothes again, tied to a post with a gag in his mouth.

Jasmine's anger began to resonate.

"I know, I know, he doesn't look like much of a contender right now. The sneaky little devil tried to sneak off after the song. How cute."

Mettaton threw an angry punch into Alex's stomach. Everyone flinched, jumping back in surprise. Alex groaned and growled, pulling against the rope.

Jasmine stood up in her own fit of anger, but Sans and Payrus managed to get her to sit again.

Mettaton rolled back from Alex, "He looks fired up now folks! Aren't you fired up?!" The audience roared louder, stamping their feet.

The ropes around Alex were cut by Alphys. He removed his gag.

"Thanks." Alex said.

Alphys pulled Alex to her and whispered in his ear, "Go for the switch on his back. Also, he's got bad balance." Alphys advised him.

Alex nodded, taking his jacket off. He stepped fully into the arena, his fists raised to his chest. All went silent as he and Mettaton prepared to square off.

Alex's surroundings darkened, and his SOUL appeared on his chest.

"Ah, there it is. Your SOUL. That's the real reason you're so important down here, darling. Your SOUL is the ticket out of the Underground. That's something I feel inclined to cash in on."

Alex's options appeared before him. He chose Fight.

Alex and Mettaton charged at each other. Alex juked Mettaton at the last second, going for the switch. Mettaton spun around too fast for him though, and swung a wild backhand at Alex. Alex ducked under it, kicking Mettaton back a yard with his right foot.

"Oh, darling." Mettaton tusked as if Alex had just done something hopelessly ridiculous.

Mettaton threw a fast punch, which Alex dodged. Mettaton then crossed over his own punch with another punch, which Alex didn't expect. Alex took a shot right to the chin, stumbling and falling onto his back.

He reeled for a second before kicking back up to his feet. The audience cheered.

"Just think about it, darling. Me! On the surface! A monster star in the human world. I'll start my own company, with a market on shoes! And umbrellas!" Mettaton said.

"Yeah? And how many people will you kill to get there?" Alex responded.

Mettaton chuckled, "Well, haha, darling, I was kinda hoping just you. Besides, how many monsters have you killed to get here?" Mettaton questioned.

Alex's options appeared before him. This time, he chose Mercy, then Spare.

"Zero." Alex answered.

"Not fighting, huh? Well, I hate to break it to ya, darling, but that changes nothing. The Fight's already started, and there's no backing out now. This will only end when one of us loses." Mettaton reached behind his back and pulled out a bomb. He threw it at Alex.

The bomb exploded in front of Alex, making him fall back. When the smoke cleared, the audience began to boo. Dr. Alphys stood in front of him, timidly holding a yellow ray gun in her hands.

Alex got up, "Thanks for the Save." He said.

"You're welcome. L-last time a human fell here, I could only fake being a hero. This time, I will be. This time is different. This time-!"

"It's okay, Alphys. I gotcha. You're good." Alex said, patting her arm.

"Right. Sorry." Alphys said with an awkward smile.

"Dr. Alphys! So this is how the cards are dealt. Creator against creation. The human has made you soft! Just like all the other monsters he's 'befriended'! He's playing you for a fool! He's playing you all! For fools! Frisk told the same lies before he cut through all of us!" Mettaton screamed in an emotional rage.

Alphys fired two shaky shots. One whizzed past Mettaton's side, the other hit Mettaton right on the unicycle holding his body up. The wheel stopped completely, and Mettaton fell flat forward. He flailed his arms, then tried to push himself up.

Alex jumped on his back to keep him down, then reached for the switch.

"No! Don't!" Mettaton shouted.

Alex flipped the switch.

Mettaton froze. The audience went silent. Alphys sighed in relief, holstering her ray gun.

Suddenly, Mettaton began to vibrate. Alex jumped off and backed away, standing by Alphys.

"What's happening?" Alex asked.

"I don't know!" Alphys answered.

Mettaton stood up, and began to transform.

"Oh no!" Alphys shouted suddenly.

A blinding white light began to fill the arena...

"Oh yes."


	10. Chapter 10

"Hey, Alphys?"

"Uh...yeah, Alex?"

"I don't see how this factors into your whole 'robot killing' thing."

Alex and Alphys stared at Mettaton. He'd upgraded, or rather, transformed from being a Gameboy on a unicycle to having a full body with a head and two feet, all of which looked metallic.

Alex and Mettaton made eye contact. Mettaton squinted, his eyes just black circles.

"You know, THAT was incredibly rude. I was waiting for the opportune time to surprise the world with my new body, but now you've gone and ruined it. No biggie though, darling. It creates more dramatic effect, doesn't it?"

Mettaton turned to the flabbergasted audience and posed dramatically. The audience erupted into applause. Alphys passed Alex the ray gun and stepped off the arena.

"He's all yours."

Mettaton turned to Alex, who had stuffed the ray gun in his back pocket. He smirked at Alex.

"You know, I'm starting to like you, darling. Can't say what it is, but I'm almost buying into the drama you got. Sorry, but I still won't buy into it like everyone else. I lost too much last time time to just believe you. Shame on me."

Mettaton widened his stance into a judo pose. Alex got into a boxing stance, raising his fists.

"The girl. The one you're SO Determined to get back to. What's her name?" Mettaton asked.

"Jasmine."

"Lovely. Tell me, after all you've gone through, and the beating you're facing now, is she worth all that? All this?"

Alex inhaled and exhaled, "I'd die for her." Alex admitted.

Mettaton's self-righteous smirk faltered into almost a full frown. He shook it off.

"Careful what you wish for, Alex."

Alex's options appeared before him. He chose Fight. The battle began, and dramatic music started up on cue.

Alex started off throwing a left jab, which Mettaton dodged with an intentionally stylish lean, followed by a sweep kick.

Alex jumped high and kicked Mettaton in the chest with both feet. They both fell onto their backs. Alex kicked up onto his feet. Mettaton spun on his shoulders and slid up from his knees to his feet.

The audience was chanting for Mettaton.

Mettaton leaned back, posing dramatically for the audience. Alex twisted his open hands and shook his head with a disapproving expression.

"Really?" Alex huffed.

Mettaton sneered with a small hum of distaste. The audience booed Alex intensely. Mettaton's lips tugged into a confident smirk.

It was then that Alex realized that winning this fight would mean getting the audience on his side.

Mettaton took his turn, spinning in the air and chucking a bomb at Alex. Alex ran towards Mettaton to avoid the blast. Mettaton threw another kick. Alex slid on his knees and leaned back to dodge it.

Once clear, Alex hoped to his feet and side-kicked Mettaton in the back. The bomb exploded in front of Mettaton, knocking him down. He quickly got up to his feet.

Mettaton turned, growling. Alex wiped the bridge of his nose with his thumb, sporting a confident sneer. The audience began to clap in rhythm.

"You dance, Metta?"

"Plenty." Mettaton huffed.

"Allow me to educate you on some surface dances then." Alex said, choosing Fight again.

Alex stepped forward and threw a quick jab at his stomach. Mettaton threw a wild punch. Alex ducked under it, pushing Mettaton away.

Alex stepped sideways in an exaggerated crouch, punching his left fist forward, "This one's called the Whip!"

Mettaton scoffed, throwing a kick. Alex ducked, sweeping his other leg out from under him. Mettaton fell onto his back again.

Alex stepped back in the same crouch motion, rocking his shoulders with one hand in the air, "The Nae Nae!"

"Quit moving around!" Mettaton shouted, getting up.

Alex swayed his hips, stepping in place and bringing his hands up to his shoulders, "The Mitty Walk. Take notes buddy." Alex said, shooting Mettaton a taunting wink.

Mettaton shouted out in frustration, throwing several roundhouse kicks. Alex took one to the shoulder before grabbing his foot and pushing him away again.

Alex crossed his hands, one over the other, twice, then posed, flexing his arms and lifting one knee, "Hittin' The Folks now!"

Alex walked as close to the audience as he could get. He spun his hands in a circle, then nodded into his elbow, "Dabbin' on that cyborg. Dab on 'im everyone now! Dab!" Alex shouted, dabbing. 

The audience shouted "Dab!" and mimicked him. Alex laughed out loud.

"Those aren't dances! Those are one-trick gimmicks!" Mettaton growled through gritted teeth.

Alex shrugged, "True. Wanna see my personal favorite?" Alex asked, beckoning Mettaton to attack him as he chose Spare.

Mettaton charged forward, jumping up and throwing a furious flurry of kicks.

Alex slid back smoothly on his feet, deflecting Mettaton's kicks with his hands. The audience let out an audible "Wow!"

"The Moonwalk!" Alex announced.

Mettaton landed on the ground, stumbling a bit. Alex kicked him back. As Mettaton stumbled, Alex spun, then stood on his toes.

"Spin and toe stand finish." Alex said

Alex turned to the audience, gesturing for them to make some noise. They responded enthusiastically by cheering his name.

"Alex! Alex! Alex!"

"You haven't bested me yet." Mettaton said, huffing.

"You sure?" Alex chuckled, pulling out his blaster. Mettaton suddenly through a bomb forward, and Alex responded by pulling the trigger.

BOOM!

Alex flew back, losing his grip on the gun. Alex groaned in pain, laying on his back in a dazed shock. Mettaton pressed a foot to his chest. He was missing both arms.

"Don't stop now, Alex! He has to give in soon!" Alphys shouted.

"It's over, Alphys. Give it a rest." Mettaton shouted back.

Mettaton glared down at Alex, "Fabulous footwork, but now it's the end of the line, darling."

Mettaton pressed his foot down into Alex's chest, driving the heel of his shoe between Alex's rib cage. Alex gasped, then screamed out in pain.

"Mother of-! Gahah!!!" He clutched Mettaton's ankle, but was unable to push him off. He struggled for air.

"Your SOUL is mine now, darling. I'll make sure to put it into good use on the surface." Mettaton grinned.

"Agh!! Mett...a....the show!" Alex tried desperately, his chest burning in tight pain.

Mettaton's pressure relieved, although it was still enough to keep Alex down.

"You're...you're right. The show. If I'm to go to the surface, then...that means thus us our final show! Oh my! I-I didn't expect this! I don't even know what to say. The ratings got so high when you...and now...uh, I, let's open up the call lines so people can call into the show."

Mettaton paused as the line rang.

*click*

"Hello?" A little girl's voice called out

"Yes yes, hello! Mettaton here!"

"...oh! I'm actually talking to you?"

"Yes you are, darling! What do you have to say?"

"Well, I guess I'm just...confused. Is this your last show ever?"

Mettaton swallowed, "Y-yes."

"Oh...alright. That's okay. I'm gonna miss you, Mettaton."

The call dropped.

"No, wait! I...don't go. Uh, let's take another caller." Mettaton took another call. It was a boy this time.

"Agh! Mettaton??"

"Yes yes, I'm here." Mettaton answered.

"Okay okay. Two things. One: my Mom and Dad and me love watching your show. You're really cool!"

"Aww, thanks darling."

"And-and two..." The boy paused, "Please don't kill the human.

"You see, the human, Alex, he saved my life, right? I was gonna fall off this bridge, and he saved me! Pulled me right up, right? He's, like, actually really cool, and-and it would be sad to kill him! He's not, like, as bad as we say all humans are. Could you please let him go, and stay?"

Mettaton paused. The call dropped again. Mettaton sighed, and his head sank. More calls came in, one after the other, praising him and asking him not to go.

One call from a young woman was about Alex. She called him: "... A nice and well-mannered human."

Finally, Mettaton stepped off of Alex. Alex got up.

"Alex, I... I'll let you go. Even I can't deny what I heard: monsters defending you, and asking me to stay. They need me, and, I guess if they were up there and I were down here trying to get back to them, that'd put me in your position...

"I'm... I'm sorry."

Alex sighed, "To be honest, I can't really blame you. You don't have to apologize." Alex said.

Alex was about to hold out his hand for a truce handshake with Mettaton, but seeing that Mettaton didn't have arms, Alex just gave him a quick hug instead.

The audience erupted into applause.

Mettaton fell onto his back. A low sound emitted from inside his chest.

"Mettaton!" Alphys exclaimed, running over and checking him. She sighed in relief.

"He's just powered off. His battery life must've ran out." Alphys said, struggling to calm herself. Finally, she started breathing normally.

Alex nodded, placing a hand on her shoulder, "I'll leave him to you then." Alex said, exiting stage left.

Alex found himself backstage, looking for a way to continue. He turned a corner, finding a long hallway with one door. He opened it. It led to a place called: The Core.

Alex was about to continue on, when his phone began to ring. He checked it. It was a call from Papyrus. He answered it.

"Hello?"

"Baby! Is that you?!"

Alex gasped. He was so shocked by the voice on the other end that his throat went dry, and the phone nearly slipped out of his hand.

"Ja-oh my god, it's you?!"

"Yes! 'Tis I! Also, don't you dare die for me, mister, or I'll...do something!"

Alex laughed, his eyes beginning to water, "I-I wasn't sure I'd ever hear your voice again. Are...are you down here too?"

"Yes, I'm with Sans and Papyrus at their house. I'll put you on speaker."

"Is he on? Hi, Alex!" Papyrus' voice exclaimed cheerfully.

"Papyrus! Hey!" Alex chuckled.

"We were watching you on the TV. Nice moves, kid." Sans said.

Alex sighed in relief, "Thank you both for taking care of her." He said sincerely.

"What're friends for?" Papyrus chortled.

"I accept payment in gold coins only." Sans chuckled.

"I'll go back to meet you there, and then take Jasmine with me." Alex said.

"Woah, hold up, Romeo. That's too long a trip." Sans said.

"I'll be fine." Alex said, ignoring his present fatigue.

"Let's find a meeting place! Ooh! How about Undyne's house?" Papyrus suggested.

"No, bad idea." Alex said quickly.

"Ah, come on! It's right in the middle! I'll call her, and she'll be sick!" Papyrus reassured.

"What?" Everyone asked.

"Sick. You know, the expression meaning really cool?" Papyrus reminded.

"Alright, Papyrus..." Alex sighed, "You talk to her. I'll find a place to stay tonight, and go to her house tomorrow. Deal?"

"Deal! I'll accompany Jasmine, and we should be there tomorrow afternoon!" Papyrus promised.

"Alright. See ya then." Alex said.

"Wait!" Jasmine shouted.

"What?" Alex asked.

"I love you." She said softly.

Alex smiled, his heart melting a bit, "I love you too." He said before hanging up.

***

It was dark, and late at night. Alex had backtracked all the way back to the Marshlands, looking for shelter. It was cold and wet everywhere, and raining.

Alex passed by Undyne's house. He eyed it, considering going there to ask for shelter. Instead, he continued past it.

Finally, he reached the house he had been looking fir. He approached it and knocked on the door. The owner of the house opened his door.

"Hey, Napstablook. I know it's late and this is highly unexpected, but I need a place to stay, and I didn't know where to go." Alex explained himself.

Napstablook nodded, "That's okay... Come on in. You can sleep on the floor...next to me." He said.

Alex entered the house...


	11. Chapter 11

It was early morning in the Underground, and Alex was already filled to the brim with an anxious excitement and bouncy anticipation. As he waited for the right time to go to Undyne's house, as Papyrus had arranged, Alex busied himself by sitting in front of Napstablook's computer and listening to his music.

Alex nodded along as he listened to Napstablook's tracks. It made Alex think of using junkyard objects to make music, combined with EDM beats, synth, and some dubstep effects. He removed the headphones when he had finished. Napstablook looked up from his book, awaiting Alex's opinion.

"It's good man. I like it. It's very heavy." Alex nodded.

"Thank you." Napstablook said.

Alex looked out the window of Napstablook's home, seeing that it was raining lightly outside. Drips of water gently pattered against the glass. It was a soothing sound.

"When would be a good time to go, do you think?" Alex asked.

"Not long now... Undyne will probably be back this afternoon." Napstablook answered.

"Okay."

"She's probably working out..." Napstablook suddenly observed.

"Working out?"

"Yeah. She goes out on loud jogs every morning." Napstablook explained.

"Where?"

"They Junkyard... Why?"

Alex reached into his First Aid pouch and swallowed down two boxes of Temmie Flakes, "Let's find her."

***

Sans walked out of his room after dressing himself in black gym shorts, a black baggy shirt, and his blue hoodie.

"Good! Sans! You're up!" Papyrus exclaimed from the living room.

Sans walked downstairs to find Papyrus standing over Jasmine, who was sleeping in the couch. Sans stood next to his brother, and they looked down at her.

"What's the issue?" Sans asked.

"She doesn't wanna get up." Papyrus complained, poking Jasmine. She stirred a bit and groaned with heavy drowsiness and irritation.

"Hey, Jazz. You alive?" Sans asked.

Jasmine groaned, "No..."

"I'm convinced." Sans said to Papyrus with a shrug.

"Come on. Alex is waiting for us." Papyrus urged her.

Finally, she forced herself to slowly sit up, "Ugh, fine..."

~~~

Jasmine and Papyrus stepped onto the trail leading out of Snowdin. Sans followed for a bit behind them, until they reached the edge of town.

"Are you sure you don't want to come, brother?" Papyrus asked.

"Nah. I need my breakfast. I'll meet you at Undyne's house later." Sans said, entering the library.

Papyrus shrugged. He and Jasmine began the walk to Undyne's house.

"Are you excited to see Alex again?" Papyrus asked her.

"Like you wouldn't believe."

"You've missed him a lot too?"

Jasmine nodded, "Yeah."

"He's been missing you a lot too. And I also kinda have maybe also been missing Alex too." Papyrus admitted.

"Aww. I'm sure he'll be happy to see you too." Jasmine reassured him.

"I look forward to it. We haven't had the chance to talk on the phone since he left." Papyrus explained.

Jasmine took a deep breath as they finally exited Snowdin. Her hands rested soothingly on her stomach as they walked.

Papyrus eyed her, "Are you alright? Did you not enjoy the spaghetti?"

"No no, I'm just...anxious, I suppose. Words can't really describe the butterflies in my stomach." Jasmine said.

"Nausea." Papyrus said.

***

Alex walked through the Junkyard, a happy stride in his step as he listened to music on his phone and searched for Undyne. Alex spun around to look behind him in a half-skip, then turned back around with another hop and a skip. He hummed along to his music as he walked.

"Alex!" A voice called to him.

Alex looked to his right. Alphys had called him. She was coming towards him, wearing a long black shirt that went down over her waist, blue jeans, and slip-on shoes. She caught up to him. Alex smiled.

"Heya Alphys. You're lookin' nice today. What's up?"

"Oh, well, heheh, thanks," Alphys giggled, caught off guard for a moment, "I was-I was, uh, watching you again and I saw that you were looking for Undyne and...I...came to tell you that Papyrus and Jasmine are on their way now."

"Awesome. Thank you. Is that all?" Alex asked, sensing another reason for her coming.

"Uh...well, actually I did want...some advice." Alphys finally admitted.

"Oh?" Alex asked as the two began to walk together.

"Yeah. See, uh, I've got...someone on my eye, I guess, and I want to...make my feelings known."

"Say no more."

"Huh?" Alphys looked up at him.

"You don't have to tell me who it is, but I'll tell you this: no relationship starts out by NOT telling the other person how you feel. The worst you can get is 'I don't feel the same way', right?" Alex quickly said.

"But, I-I'm not exactly smooth or anything like that. Not like you." Alphys pointed out, her head slumping a bit.

"Haha! Me? Smooth? Not at all."

"Yeah but you have your singing and your dancing stuff. I can't do that. I have two left feet." Alphys said.

"Dancing's easy, Alphys."

"No." She quickly disagrees.

Alex stopped, and they turned towards each other, "Come on. I'll teach you some steps. I'll be, like, your first practice dance partner." Alex offered.

Alphys hesitated heavily, but agreed anyways.

Playing a song by Franki Valli & The Four Seasons from his phone, Alex took a hold of Alphys' hands. She nervously took them.

"This is the easiest thing. Follow my feet." 

He took one step to the right. She followed. He took one step to the left. She followed.

"The two step. You can also take two steps to the right and two steps to the left." Alex described quickly. They did so.

"Alright." Alphys nodded.

Alex walked Alphys through a few steps: the Twist, a little footwork, and he concluded with a tutorial on slow dancing.

Anywhere from 30 minutes to an hour passed; Alex wasn't sure. He was having fun, and so was Alphys.

When they had concluded, Alex made his way to Undyne's house.

***

Papyrus held the umbrella as he and Jasmine began their trek through the rainy sections of the Marshlands. Jasmine hugged her arms as they walked along the cold wet path.

"Are you alright, human? Are you cold?" Papyrus asked.

"I'm fine. I just...had a thought."

"About?" Papyrus asked.

"Well...this is the same path Alex took to get as far as he did, right?" She asked.

Papyrus nodded, "This is the path we sent him down, yes."

"It must've sucked to go through this place alone..." Jasmine said. Papyrus could only shrug in response.

Papyrus and Jasmine stopped upon hearing two distinctly different sounds: someone humming and a music box playing.

"Halt! Who goes there?" Papyrus boomed.

He quickly turned to Jasmine, "I've been practicing that for when I'm admitted into the Royal Guard. What do you think?" He asked.

"Very nice."

"Nyeh?"

"Oh yeah, very intimidating." She said quickly, making an 'OK' sign with her hand.

"Hoi? Who is there?" Temmie's voice called out. She emerged from an unseen corner in the path, then proceeded to smile and wave at Jasmine and Papyrus.

Jasmine squealed, "Oh mah goodness! It's so friggen cute! With the little cap and just- AGH!" She cupped her hands together and covered her mouth.

"Oh boy..." Papyrus muttered.

***

Alex knocked on the door to Undyne's house. He had wrapped his green jacket around his waist so the sleeves were tied up in front of him and the rest of the jacket hung behind him. He clasped his hands on the back of his neck, waiting patiently.

The door opened, and Undyne peeked her head out. She had on her black shirt and cargo pants, but now she'd also donned a blue leather jacket that stopped just above her waist. Her red hair fell freely down onto her shoulders.

Upon seeing Alex, she rolled her eye, "Ugh, it's you."

"Nice to see you too, Undyne. You're looking swell." Alex said.

"Yeah yeah. Papyrus told me you were comin'. Come on in." She said with little enthusiasm, waving him in. Alex followed her into her home.

The house had a very open layout. To his right was the dining table. In the back right was a kitchen. Left of the kitchen was a door, which Alex assumed led to the bedroom.

To his left was a TV plugged into the wall. Between the bedroom door and the TV stood a sleek black grand piano. It was a nice house. Alex nodded with a smile.

"This is a nice home." Alex complimented.

"Thanks. Glad you like it." Undyne said, muttering slightly. She pulled up a chair for Alex at the table, "Have a seat."

Saying a quick thanks, Alex took his seat. Undyne sat down across from him, on the other side of the dining table.

There was a moment of silence. The two of them stared at each other for a few long seconds.

"Well, go ahead." Undyne said.

Alex's eyebrows furrowed, "What?"

"You're here. I'm here. And on top of that, you're my houseguest. I'm just waiting." She said.

"...for?" Alex asked slowly.

"You to gloat. Our last encounter, you humiliated me by stripping me of my armor. You made me look weak by Sparing me. You've got the 'bragging rights'. I'm just waiting to hear them." Undyne said, folding her hands under the table.

Alex shook his head, "I'm not interested in boasting, Undyne."

"Oh really?" Undyne asked skeptically.

"Yep. If anything, my first choice wasn't to meet here. I didn't actually get a choice. But since I AM here, I'd rather us settle our differences." Alex said.

Undyne's face lit up.

"Peacefully." Alex added.

"Oh." Undyne muttered in disappointment.

"Well, if you think I'm gonna be friends with a loser like you, you can forget it!" Undyne said, folding her arms.

"The kind of loser that always wins?" Alex asked with a sly raise of an eyebrow.

Undyne pressed her lips together, biting back a response. Her lips cracked into a small sneer.

She scoffed, "Tch. Fine. If you're so Determined to be a little peaceful pansy, then we can try being friends, I guess." She agreed. Alex nodded.

"So, houseguest, can I get you anything? Something to drink perhaps?" Undyne asked, making an effort to sound more delightful.

Alex shrugged, "I could use a little water." He said, getting up from the table.

Undyne suddenly summoned her spear and thrust it into the table. It went clean through, leaving splinters and cracks, not to mention a big hole in the center.

"What're you doing getting up?! Sit down!" She yelled.

Alex quickly sat down.

Undyne composed herself, "You're my houseguest. I got you covered. Water? Coming right up!" She said, resuming her delightful tone as she set to getting him his water,

"So how was the trip over here?" She asked.

"Oh, you know, pleasant." Alex answered.

"Yeah I bet." Undyne commented in an undertone.

"Huh?"

"I saw you while I was out on my run. You were dancing with Dr. Alphys, unless my good eye saw wrong." Undyne said, her grumble turning aggressive.

"Oh that? Yeah, I was teaching her some steps, as per her request."

"Ah okay." Undyne said, pouring the water into a glass.

"Yeah. It was fun."

"Oh, I'm sure." Undyne served him his water, then sat down again.

"Are you alright, Undyne?" Alex asked.

"Oh yeah yeah! Fine." She said. M

"You seem agitated." He observed.

"No no, just asking my friend about his fun dance." Undyne said.

"Do you wanna learn?" Alex offered.

"Tch. Oh no. I'm not gonna get sucked up into that little game of yours." She shook her head in refusal.

"Ah come on." Alex said, getting up and urging Undyne to do the same.

***

Jasmine, Papyrus, and Temmie neared Undyne's house now.

"So you're looking for Alex too?" Jasmine asked Temmie.

"Yes! Alex very nice human. He give Temmie money for colleg. Temmie go get on-tra-manure degree thanks to Alex. Now Temmie is big sales-Temmie." Temmie explained cheerfully.

"Wow. Alex has been busy travelling snd making friends. I wonder..." Papyrus trailed off.

"Wonder what?" Jasmine asked him.

"Well...it's nothing, I... I wonder if he misses me like I miss him." Papyrus admitted quickly.

"You were his first friend down here. I'm sure he'll be just as happy to see you as you'll be to see him." Jasmine reassured again.

The trio reached Undyne's house. Papyrus knocked. No answer.

"That's strange. She should surely be home by now." Papyrus thought aloud.

Temmie put her ear to the door, "Temmie hear music play!" She exclaimed.

Papyrus grabbed a spare key from under the doormat. He unlocked the door and opened it.

The three walked in to the sight of Alex and Undyne dancing in the center of the house, tapping different parts of their feet to the floor, to the beat of Rock Around The Clock.

Alex looked hard at work, and Undyne had a slight smile on her face as she looked down at her feet. She glanced at the door and froze, her fave flush with embarrassment.

"Why'd you stop?" Alex asked, turning to the door. Jasmine ran to him and hugged him,

"Baby!" She exclaimed, overwhelmed with joy.

Alex froze for a moment, then returned the hug, happiness surging and swelling in his chest.

They shared a tearful kiss...


	12. Chapter 12

"I love what you've done with the dining table, Undyne. The spear is a really nice touch." Papyrus complimented as everyone too a seat at her table; all except Temmie, who was sitting in Jasmine's lap, who was sitting sideways in Alex's lap with an arm around his neck.

"Thanks Papy." Undyne said, sitting by him.

"This is fantastic. We're all here." Alex said, smiling up at Jasmine, then petting Temmie.

"This is indeed a happy occasion! I hope Sans can join us soon." Papyrus said.

"He should be around soon, right?" Jasmine asked. Papyrus nodded.

"Oh goody. I've been meaning to have a little word with your brother." Undyne said.

Alex chuckled, "He's screwed." He whispered Jasmine before turning to Papyrus,

"Papyrus, buddy! It's been awhile since we've talked. How've you been?"

"Great. I saw you on TV yesterday. Impeccable work with Mettaton." Papyrus complimented.

"Ahh, you're too kind. Thank you. How's Sans?" Alex asked.

"Doing well as well. I think he's missing you too. You've changed things around Snowdin. People are talking about you more. And Sans has started wearing black shirts."

"Wow. What a change." Jasmine said dryly.

"It is for him." Undyne said with a hit of a chuckle.

Knock knock knock.

"Temmie will answer!"

Temmie hopped off of Jasmine's lap and scurried to the door. She hopped and scratched at it, uttering small grunts of effort in her attempt to reach the doorknob.

She turned back to the others, "Temmie need helps!"

"Awww I got you." Jasmine cooed, getting up and opening the door.

Sans entered, wearing a black turtleneck and pants in addition to his trademark hoodie.

"Brother! Finally, you join us! What kept you?" Papyrus asked.

"Sorry. Snow falls a little hard. Got snowed in Snowdin. Snowed me down." Sans chuckled, hanging up his hoodie.

He knelt down and picked up Temmie.

"Heya."

"Hoi! I'm Temmie!" She said, curling up in his arms.

"Nice ta meet ya. Name's Sans." He said, shutting the door.

"Sorry I'm late everyone. Lost track of tem." Sans punned, inducing a groan from those at the table and a giggle from both Jasmine and Temmie. Everyone sat.

"So, Sans, the other day when I was hunting the human, I saw you asleep at your post. Care to explain that?" Undyne raised her eyebrow at Sans.

Sans awkwardly chuckled, then got up, "Well folks, it's been fun, but I best be getting back." Sans joked, pretending to leave.

Alex laughed, "Let him be for now, Undyne. We're all on break now." Alex said.

"Yeah, listen to Alex." Sans chuckled as he sat back down.

"Alex...?" Undyne paused, slowly turning to look at Alex, "Is...that your name...?" She asked him slowly.

Everyone paused.

"Oh! I guess I never really did get the chance to tell you my name, huh?" Alex realized.

"Yeah..." Undyne's eye fell to the ground.

"Well, I'm Alex, and this is Jasmine." Alex introduced.

"And it's a pleasure to meet you." Jasmine added with a smile.

Undyne brought herself to return the smile with a genuine smile of her own.

"You were dancing with a partner you didn't even know the name of? That doesn't sound like you, Undyne." Papyrus teased lightheartedly.

"Hey! That was... How about we just not discuss that?" Undyne chuckled with embarrassment. There was some general laughter at the table.

"Yeah. I saw you dancing too, my littke '60's stud." Jasmine teased Alex, kissing his cheek. Everyone at the table groaned teasingly.

"Get a room, you two!" Sans said.

"Not in kitchen room." Temmie joked.

"Ya'll better not break my chair." Undyne threatened.

Alex chuckled, "We'll make sure to pay you back in sincere apologies if anything happens." Alex joked.

"Mhmm." Undyne hummed.

"It'll be Jasmine's fault." Alex said quickly.

"How?!" Jasmine demanded. Alex laughed harder.

"This is really nice." Papyrus said. Everyone nodded in agreement.

"Yah yah! Humans and monsters all friends!" Temmie said happily.

"That'd be nice." Undyne said in passing.

"If it were like this." Sans determined. Everyone agreed.

"Realistically speaking, I think that with some time, it's completely possible." Alex said.

No one responded.

There was another knock at the door. This time Sans got it. Alphys came in timidly, still wearing her same outfit.

"Umm... Hey everyone. Hey Undyne. I'm not interrupting, am I?" Undyne asked.

"Not at all, girl! Come on! Sit down!" Alex invited, gesturing for her to come in.

Alphys smiled, sitting on the other side of Undyne.

"You saw us on camera and wanted to join, didn't you?" Alex presumed.

"How'd you know?" Alphys asked, surprised.

"I'm a good guesser." Alex shrugged with a smirk.

"Ugh, why do you have to be so friggen smart?" Jasmine smacked his shoulder. Alex shook his head with amused scoff.

"Well, we're happy you could join us." Undyne said to Alphys.

"Looks like we've got ourselves a party now." Sans chuckled.

"Right?" Jasmine agreed.

"Well, we don't have any music. We can't have a party without music." Papyrus pointed out.

Alex's eyes lit up, and Jasmine saw it, "No. I see that look. I'm reading your mind. Don't say it." Jasmine said.

"Say wha?" Temmie asked.

Alex made a temporary show out of keeping his idea suppressed to mess with Jasmine. Finally, he exclaimed:

"Why don't we make our own music?"

"How exactly?" Alphys asked.

"Oh here we go." Jasmine said, getting up so Alex could stand. He walked around the kitchen.

"Well, we've got a piano," He started looking through the kitchen cabinets, "We've got seasoning, pots and pans, utensils both wooden and silverware, salt and pepper shakers. We got a gold mine of instruments here!" Alex exclaimed excitedly.

"Ah, I gotcha." Sans said, helping Alex get some of the stuff out.

"I don't understand." Undyne said.

"Yeah. You can't cook with a piano." Papyrus pointed out.

"It isn't for cooking. We're gonna use these things to make some music. You'll see in a minute," Alex said, "Sans, since you get the gist, you can help Jasmine and I demonstrate."

Sans set several sized pots down on the counter in front of him, open ends facing down. He picked up two wooden spoons. Sans tested the sounds of each pot, then the shelf, then the counter.

"Start us off when you're ready." Alex said to Sans. Everyone else waited in silent anticipation.

Wielding one spoon, Sans began hitting the counter, then one of the bigger pots, back and forth, providing the beat

Alex nodded along, then began to play a bouncy set of chords on the piano.

Jasmine shook her salt shaker like a maraca.

"Ooh! That cool! I wanna join!" Temmie bounced a bit, hopping onto the piano and scatting a melody to match the mood of the chords.

Papyrus began to clap along to the song, providing another layer.

Alphys stood and joined Jasmine, wielding the pepper shaker with some slight fading uncertainty.

Undyne began to drum on the table with her hands.

"Yeah! There you go guys!" Alex encouraged with a happy grin. He mimicked Temmie's scatting, making her part louder.

This group activity went on for awhile. Every once in awhile, they'd start over with a new beat, building a new song from it.

Whenever the result sounded like a song either Alex or Jasmine knew, they'd provide some singing too.

About two hours passed in total before Alphys and Temmie had to leave, and things wound down.

"Alright. I'll admit, that was actually a lot of fun." Undyne said.

"Nyeah! I agree! Where did you get that idea from?" Papyrus asked.

"When I was younger, my Mother had some old friends passing through town. That's what we all did, except with a guitar instead of a piano." Alex answered.

"Cool." Sans said.

"Is that a traditional thing that humans do?" Undyne asked.

"No it isn't." Jasmine answered.

"Humans don't normally do that?" Papyrus asked.

"For get-togethers, Hispanics like myself might." Alex said.

Papyrus and Undyne both looked at each other, not understanding.

"That's a no." Jasmine translated.

"Ohh." They both nodded.

"Well, we gotta get going now, unfortunately." Sans said.

Papyrus and Sans exited, saying their goodbyes and waving as they walked out. Alex followed them out.

"Papyrus." Alex called out, closing the front door.

The brothers both stopped. Papyrus raised a hand up, "I'll catch up with you, brother." He said. Sans shrugged and kept walking, leaving Alex and Papyrus alone.

"What's up, Alex, my friend?" Papyrus asked.

Alex stuck his hands in his coat pockets and took a small step forward, "Jasmine told me about your...concerns." Alex said.

Papyrus stammered a bit, "C-concerns? I-I don't know what it is you refer to."

"Yeah you do." Alex nodded.

"Rats," Papyrus muttered under his breath, "You're too clever for your own good." He said.

"Papyrus, I understand you taking it personally; me not calling you or stopping by." Alex said.

"You were busy trying trying to get back to Jasmine. I understand." Papyrus reassured.

"No, but it wasn't that though. I considered calling, but I chose not to." Alex admitted.

"W...why?" Papyrus asked, unsure what to think.

"Because I di... It isn't that I didn't wanna be your friend. I'm happy to be friends with you and Sans and Undyne and Alphys. It's... I know that when Jasmine and I cross that barrier, we'll never see each other again. I didn't want to get too attached or vice versa, so it'd hurt less when I was one." Alex explained.

Papyrus sighed, walking up and hugging with Alex, "Even someone as great as I couldn't bare that on my shoulders."

Alex shook his head, "I've had plenty of times where I've had to turn my back on my friends to keep from hurting them or some other reason. I thought that...it would spare us both pain." Alex explained further.

Papyrus planted a hand on Alex's shoulder, "I beg to disagree, friend. I'd gladly take the heartache of losing you a thousand times over if it meant we'd get to be worthwhile friends first." Papyrus decided.

"Tell me about it." Alex chuckled dryly, shaking his head.

"As your friend, I think you shouldn't let your past define how you act now. It's depriving you of joy you deserve.

"After all, what was it you said to me? 'Sometimes you have to take a risk to find out if the danger's real or not'?" Papyrus quoted.

"Friggin jerk. Using my own words on me." Alex muttered with a melancholy chuckle. They hugged again.

"Next time you forget that, I'll have Undyne beat it into you." Papyrus joked. The twi separated, and Papyrus backed up a bit.

"You aren't planning on saving monsterkind, are you?" Papyrus asked suddenly.

Alex sighed.

"Answer honestly. I won't be angry." Papyrus promised.

Alex's lip tugged to one side in a frown. He shook his head solemnly, his conscious weighing heavy on him as he did so.

"Yeah. I thought so..." Papyrus shrugged,

"Well, as your friend, I can't and I won't force you. I see now that there's plenty of pain behind your eyes, and I'm sure you have your reasons for choosing not to...

"But I will say this: even the most evil of people, human or monster, can do good; they can be a good person if they just really try. I believe that in my SOUL. Don't let pain blind you from seeing the good in others...or yourself."

And with that, Papyrus departed into the Marshlands to catch up with Sans. Alex sighed heavily, hands in his pockets. He spent a few long minutes thinking before finally going back inside...


	13. Chapter 13

Alex and Jasmine walked hand in hand to the elevator in Alphys' laboratory.

Alphys smiled and nodded to both of them, "This is the end of your journey now. Well, almost. You know what I mean." She said. They nodded.

"Thanks, Alphys, for all your help." Jasmine said.

"And for watching us." Alex added jokingly.

Their elevator came down, and quick goodbyes were said before Alex and Jasmine entered the elevator. The doors closed, and up they went.

"You seem nervous." Jasmine said, noticing his inability to keep still.

"Anxious. I've got these... I don't know, feelings in my stomach, I guess. I know the end is coming, but something just feels wrong. Unresolved. I don't know." Alex explained.

Jasmine squeezed Alex's hand reassuringly. The door opened, and they walked out onto the open balcony, high over the nearby city capital of monsters. They looked out over the lights of the city.

"How pretty." Alex said.

"Yeah. Reminds me of our trip to New York." She said.

"Haha. Yeah..." Alex sighed, his chuckle drowning away.

"What's wrong hun?" Jasmine asked him.

Alex sighed, "I had a conversation with Papyrus last night. It got me thinking about a few things. One: when we get back, I think we should try to make things up, rekindle things with our families." Alex said.

Jasmine paused, then nodded, "Alright. I've had my thoughts about that situation too."

"I'm glad you agree." Alex smiled.

"What other things were you thinking about?" Jasmine asked.

"One other thing. Papyrus asked me if I intended on freeing this monster race from the Underground. I said no. Now I feel as if I've changed my mind." Alex said, glancing at her.

"So we're gonna break the barrier then?" Jasmine raised an eyebrow.

"I read about when monsters were banished. After meeting the same monsters I've met, do you think it's fair to just leave them here?" Alex asked her.

Jasmine quickly shook her head, "No. Not after all their help."

Alex took her hand, "Let's go then."

She smiled as they began to run into the entrance of Asgore's castle. They ran up and up until the reached the Main Hall.

"It's just down this hall! Come on!" Alex said to her, pulling her along.

They huffed as they ran, but they were so close. A silhouette appeared before their paths suddenly, and the two stopped.

"Sans? What're you doing here?" Jasmine asked.

Sans didn't answer. He simply stood there calmly, with his hands in his coat pockets.

Alex stepped forward, "I gathered what you told me when we first met. You said: 'Everything would be taken to account.' That's what this is right? Judgement for our past actions?"

Sans shook his head, "That's not why I'm here." He said.

Alex and Jasmine glanced at each other, "What are you doing here then?" Jasmine asked again.

Sans sighed. His glowing blue eye appeared, "Where's Papyrus?" He questioned firmly.

"We don't know. We thought he was with you." Alex stood straight.

"If we knew, we would tell you. We didn't even know he was missing." Jasmine added.

Sans' eyes shut. He shook his head again, slowly and sadly, "Unbelievable. Serves me right for trusting humans again." Sans muttered, loud enough for them to hear.

"We're telling the truth, Sans." Jasmine said.

"That's not what I heard. A monster told me. I heard it all in the Echo Flowers..."

Sans opened his eyes again. They were filled now only with empty darkness.

"You two make me sick.

"We did our best to help you, Alex. Papyrus saw something in you and Spared you. You cooked with him, ate with us, and we gave you a couch to sleep on. Do you have any idea all the things I did to help you along?

"And when she came down, Papyrus and I gave her the same hospitality, because WE knew she was special to YOU." Sans said, feeling angry and hurt.

"And we're thankful for all that you two did." Jasmine defended.

"Yeah? Where's my brother then? Why isn't he here?" Sans raised his voice. It broke near at end of his question.

A few tears fell from his eyes, rolling down his face, "Is he gone again? Did you kill him again?!" Sans' voice echoed through the hall.

Jasmine inched towards Alex, a nervous tension building, "Sans, please, if there's anything we can do..."

"Shut up."

Sans held out his hand towards Jasmine, throwing it out to his right. Jasmine's body followed, and was thrown into the nearest column. The collision was loud and hard. She fell limply to the ground.

"Jasmine!" Alex yelled, running to her. He grabbed her and pulled her out of the way, just in time to avoid a strong blast of SOUL power from a cannon that looked like the skull of an animal: his Gaster Blaster.

"Are you insane?! You could've killed her!" Alex screamed at Sans, who hadn't taken a step.

"That was the idea." Sans responded simply.

It was as if all traces of the emotion he had just shown disappeared.

"We can find Papyrus. We can help you. Don't do this." Alex begged, setting Jasmine down behind a column before standing his ground in front of Sans.

Sans closed his eyes again, "Just stop kid. Papyrus is in a better place now..."

Sans opened his eyes slowly, his blue eye staring at Alex's SOUL.

"Say hi to him for me on your way to hell."

Sans held his hand out again, tossing Alex up into a column. Alex stopped the impact short with his feet. Alex did the same thing.

Alex rolled out of the way of a volley of bones. They smashed into the column, leaving holes in them.

Sans fired his Gaster blaster at Alex. Alex rolled backwards to dodge it, pulling a bone out from the column and throwing it into the blaster before it could fire again. The bone cracked the cannon, and it fell with a loud thud.

Sans lowered his hand and put it in his pocket.

"Here we go." Sans said with a shrug.

Alex's options appeared before him. In his anger, he chose Fight, and charged at Sans. Sans didn't move.

Alex threw a punch at Sans. Sans sidestepped it. Alex swung again, and Sans jumped back. Alex threw a roundhouse kick, and Sans ducked under it.

Alex stepped forward for another punch, but Sans pushed him back with his SOUL power, "You're not the only one with the power of Determination, kid."

Alex slid back on his feet. He stood straight, a low growl in his throat.

*Sans wants revenge...

Sans stood straight with his feet shoulder-width apart. The hall started to rumble...

A hallway of bones rose from the ground, opening in front of where Alex stood and ending where Sans stood.

"Like I said when we first met, Alex, I'm not as nice as my brother. You double-crossed him, you double-crossed me, and now? You're gonna have a bad time." Sans said from across the room.

Alex ran headfirst into Sans' hallway of bones, keeping his knees bent. Alex looked back and forth, ducking under and jumping out of the way of projectile bones shooting towards him.

A bone came in low for Alex's knees. He spun and snatched it out of the air, using it to bat away a bone aimed at his head. Reaching the end of the hall, all the bones sank away, and it was Alex's turn again.

Alex ran at Sans, swinging the bone at the skeleton like a bat. Sans continued to dodge his advances.

"You can't know how this feels. I had one good thing down here, and you took it away. And for what? So you can go home? Why? There's no Saving up there. No RESET button. At least down here you can escape some consequences."

Sans grabbed the bone from Alex, tossing it aside. He took hold of Alex's SOUL, and started throwing him around the room.

"Humans. Always fighting til the end, because you're afraid of death. Yet you serve it on a silver platter for others. If you had an ounce of compassion, you wouldn't even imagine the thought of taking someone else's life.

"Instead, you make machines that create boatloads of corpses. Oceans of bloodshed. And to think, for awhile you had me fooled when you said you were different...

"I know Papyrus believed you."

Sans finally tired out, letting Alex go. Alex didn't feel too hurt, but he was definitely rattled. He rolled for the bone Sans had tossed aside. He grabbed it, turned, and chucked it like a javelin at Sans.

Sans made a bone shoot up, knocking Alex's weapon away again. The bones cracked and clattered to the floor.

"I didn't kill your brother, Sans." Alex said firmly.

Sans threw his hand across his chest. Alex ducked under a bone.

"Say it again." Sans demanded.

"I didn't kill your brother!" Alex shouted. Sans sighed.

"You're a bad liar, kid..."

Sans took hold of Alex again, tossing him around more violently than any previous attack.

Alex, however, was Determined to put this fight to an end.

Into the column, the floor, the ceiling, another column; back and forth, up and down, left and right, hit after hit.

Alex took every impact, focusing so intently on his Determination to stop this that he barely felt any of the impacts.

Sans started to heave, and his attacks got slower. Finally, huffing and panting loudly, he let Alex go.

Alex took in a deep breath, then stood up straight and walked towards Sans. Still breathing heavily, Sans stayed where he was with his hands in his coat pockets.

"Looks like I'm about the end of my rope...again." Sans said, struggling to catch his breath.

Alex grabbed the cracked bone again.

"I've no intention of Sparing you, Alex. You're gonna have to kill me to Save you both." Sans said firmly.

Alex tightened his grip on the bone, taking a few more steps to Sans.

"Stop!"

Both Alex and Sans turned their heads. Jasmine was on her feet again, running towards them.

"Neither of you can kill each other!" She shouted, rejoining Alex's side.

"Are you alright, Jasmine?" He asked her softly.

"I'm okay. I was just caught off guard." Jasmine said, catching her breath.

"What makes you think anything you say will stop me?" Sans asked darkly.

"Because Papyrus will be very upset with you when he finds out you killed us." Jasmine answered, folding her arms.

"Thanks for the support babe." Alex said, huffing.

A solemn silence filled the room. Sans stared at Jasmine, not moving. She held her ground, returning the stare.

Sans shrugged suddenly, "Fine."

"Really? Just like that?" Alex asked in shock.

"It just occurred to me that you would've killed me already if you really wanted to. You could've killed Papyrus much earlier, but since you didn't then, you wouldn't have now. That's just how this works...

"I guess I misjudged you both. My mistake." Sans apologized.

*Sans is Sparing you...

Immediately, both Alex and Jasmine chose Spare. Their SOULs disappeared, and the room normalized.

"You confuse me, Sans. Why'd you stop?" Alex asked.

Sans cleared his throat, "By now, you've both figured out that the Underground doesn't work like the surface. Choices are displayed, and you've got the golden star Save points.

"Every human that's fallen down here before you has faved the same choices you have, with different circumstances and the same outcome.

"This world is like a fixed timeline. The first human to fall down here started the trend. Every human that's fallen since them goes through the same path, following in the footsteps of his ghost.

"Whether they get killed or kill everyone is up to them. Everything starts over for the next human; a clean slate.

"But now there's two of you. Two human SOULs at the same time. The Underground's never had that before, and now...the timeline broke." Sans said slowly, as if just realizing this for himself.

"Wh-what does that mean?" Jasmine asked.

"I... I don't know..." Sans answered, looking down the hall, which led to Asgore.

Everyone's eyes fixed on a single point.

At the door, there was another golden star next to it. It was vibrating intensely, and spinning like a saw blade. It was flashing red, as if it were 'malfunctioning'.

"In total, seven human SOULs have followed. You two broke it when she fell, because things didn't reset. It couldn't have with Alex here. Now it's all unraveling..." Sans said, his eyes widening in an existential panic.

Alex's phone began to ring, startling all three of them. Alex looked at it.

"It's Papyrus' number," He said. He out it on speaker so they could all hear, "Papyrus?" Alex asked. Papyrus spoke:

"You both are idiots. You two have committed evil greater than Frisk. Rather than kill everyone in this world, you just decided to tear it down instead. And now you're getting exactly what you wanted.

"I, the great Papyrus, am alive and well. I was led away from my brother and captured. If you wish to see me again, you will do as I instruct you... What does that say?"

"Star! It says 'star', stupid!" Another voice shouted.

"Flowey! Did you hurt Papyrus?!" Alex demanded.

"No, idiot. Weren't you paying attention? The skeleton's fine."

"He better be." Sans growled.

"I took him as a setup for you to kill the humans. You failed me, Sans the skeleton." Flowey said.

"Let him go." Jasmine ordered.

"You three seem very happy to threaten me, but I have your friend. I'm in control here! Don't test me! Now, be a good boy, Alex, and do what I say, or you all will hear your friend here scream very very loudly." Flowey threatened.

"What do you want me to do?" Alex asked, clenching his fists in aggravation.

"Kid..." Sans started.

Alex held his hand up. Both Jasmine and Sans backed away. Flowey chuckled.

"Good. Go touch the Save point by the door."

"Why?" Alex asked.

"To Save your friend; fair trade."

The call dropped.

"Fair trade? What does that mean?" Jasmine asked.

"It means this Flowey creep thinks it'll kill Alex if he touches the star." Sans said.

Alex nodded, "I gotta do it." He said with a gulp.

"No." Jasmine said firmly, physically pushing Alex further away from the star.

"'No man can show greater love than this, to surrender his SOUL in behalf of his friends.' If I don't do it, Papyrus dies." Alex said.

Alex tossed his phone to Sans, "Call the number back to confirm."

Alex kissed Jasmine one more time before starting to the star.

"Hold her back." Alex ordered.

Sans took hold of Jasmine's SOUL, keeping her from moving. Jasmine screamed out, fighting Sans' grip intensely.

"Let me go!!" She screamed to Sans.

"My brother's at stake here, kid. I can't..." Sans said sadly, his eyes sinking down.

Alex sighed, full of nervousness. He could feel every doubt, regret, and bad choice he ever made resurfacing in his mind. His life flashed before his eyes; he found himself ultimately wishing he had done more with his life.

He said a prayer in his head.

His gaze turned back to Jasmine.

"Go, kid. She's breaking free." Sans struggled.

Alex nodded, "I love you, Jasmine." He said before grabbing the star.

Everything paused.

Suddenly, with a vortex of vacuuming force, Alex's SOUL was sucked into the star. He and the star both disappeared.

Sans let Jasmine go, calling Flowey back, "It's done..." He sighed.

Jasmine screamed out in overwhelming sorrow, tears streaming.

Flowey cackled, "Good! Your brother's free to go. Heheheh. Hahahahaha!

"In this world, it's kill or be killed."


	14. Chapter 14

"Hey... hey... wake up... If you can hear me, I need you to wake up, my boy."

His eyes slowly fluttered open. His eyelids felt like heavy weights, but he fought to open them.

His eyes fell fell onto the figure of a tall skeleton with black pants, boots, a black turtleneck, and long white lab coat.

"Good. You're awake, Alex."

"Where am I?" Alex asked, getting up slovenly.

He found himself still in the hallway of Asgore's castle. He and the skeleton stood by Sans, who stood over Jasmine. She was on her knees, weeping profusely. Alex reached out to her.

"Don't. She can neither see nor feel your presence right now. You'll only phase through her."

"What happened to me?" Alex asked.

"Touching the Save point was the final step in destroying the established timeline of the Underground. The essence of your SOUL has been scattered all across your timeline.

"Like me, you've become a ghost; a ghost of this time."

"Who are you?" Alex asked.

"I was Dr. Gaster, King Asgore's first royal scientist. That is, until I fell into the core: the source of power for the entire Underground. It affected me the same way the Save point affected you, just more permanently."

"Oh...so, can I reverse this?" Alex asked.

"Yes, but we must act quickly." Gaster answered.

For a moment, Gaster was silent. In that moment, Gaster's eyes, which had been firmly fixed on Alex this whole time, fell onto Sans.

Alex observed a change in Gaster's facial expression; his eyes sunk sadly, hopelessly. It was an expression that Alex could only describe as depression.

The surroundings of the castle shifted into a dark cave. Next to Alex and Gaster were Flowey and Papyrus.

Flowey, true to his word, was letting Papyrus go...

However, the expression on Flowey's face made it painfully obvious that he had more plans in store.

"A lie." Gaster said.

"Huh?"

"You were told that it takes 7 SOULs to break the barrier. That was a lie. You need one human SOUL and one monster SOUL, pure and true in their nature." Gaster revealed.

"What? Then why did Asgore take six, intent on collecting seven?" Alex asked.

"A very good question, my boy.

"You've read our history. Monsters are too weak to wage war with the humans. What good would breaking the barrier do if your race dies dies soon after obtaining freedom?

"Asgore, to his credit, knew well enough that we would all die upon leaving, so he fabricated the lie to keep feeding his subjects hope.

"With 7 SOULs, one can accomplish miracles or atrocities. One human and monster SOUL combined can create a powerful ally or foe.

7 SOULs can create a power so vast it can be compared to the deities of mythology. Asgore knew that with that power on his side, the monsters would stand a fighting chance.

"Forgive the man. This hope is all he has left. He lost his wife, Toriel, to her love for the humans. It tore her away from him.

"They also had two children that both died on the same night; one, an adopted human child, and the other, their flesh and blood: Asriel Dremurr, the prince." Gaster explained.

Alex let out a long exhale, "What happened to them?" He asked.

"The story goes that the first child to fall down here was treated kindly, and adopted by the King and Queen. He became like family to the royal couple, and a sibling to Asriel.

"One day, the child got sick and made a request that couldn't be granted. The child died from the sickness.

"Asriel took the child up to the village he was from on the surface. The humans of the village mistakenly thought that Asriel had murdered the boy, and they attacked him.

"He escaped with the boy's body back to the castle, and died at the feet of his parents...

"It's...difficult to say what happened after that. Down here, a human's SOUL can survive after death and regenerate via the Save points.

"Asriel's SOUL was bonded in close union with that child. I can't say for myself this is what occurred, but I do know that the prince's SOUL has been preserved inside of a monster." Gaster said.

Once Gaster had concluded on this lingering statement, Alex's eyes fell down to Flowey. All at once, the pieces fit together in his head.

"Flowey is Asriel." Alex said.

"Correct." Gaster nodded.

"Can he be fixed?" Alex asked quickly.

"Asriel's curse is fixed to the timeline established by the SOUL of the first human to fall down here." Gaster answered indirectly.

Alex nodded, "Gotcha."

"As much as I wish I could explain everything to you in better detail, our time has run out. We must get you back now, so you can face Asgore and break the barrier."

The scenery shifted again, this time to a dark room.

"I will eject you out through the core itself. Once out, you will need to survive until Alphys can retrieve you."

"Survive? Survive what?"

"Experiments. Failed attempts to extract human Determination and inject it into monsters. Alphys thought it would be a good avenue of study for later purposes.

"They were her greatest failures. Be ready. Those abominations, though in pain, will still attack you." Gaster warned, holding up a finger.

"How do you know all this?" Alex asked.

"I've seen it all unfold seven different times. I'm hoping this will be different, but that will all depend on you, Alex." Gaster hopefully admitted.

"Thank you, Dr. Gaster. I wish I could help you."

"It's alright. And you're welcome." Gaster nodded.

Gaster thrust his hand out towards Alex, and everything went white.

~~~

Alex screamed, pulling himself out of a fiery blue ball of energy, onto a metal grate. Grunts and groans of intense pain escaped his throat as he crawled his way out of the core. He stumbled onto bare feet and exited the room.

Alex stepped out into a musty, dark, and abandoned room. His bare feet slapped against the damp concrete floor as he walked.

"Hello?" Alex called out as he felt his way through the dark halls.

Alex stepped into a room with a large, broken machine and better lighting. He stopped short, hearing low growling behind him.

Alex turned around slowly.

A creature with a rainbow-shaped body, four legs, two ears at the top of its body, and no eyes stood in front of Alex.

Everything around Alex went completely dark, and Alex's SOUL appeared over his heart.

The Stats gave no information nor a name for the abomination. Only that it was weary of him.

Alex observed the creature's legs and ears. It had four paws and two little canine ears.

"It's okay, little guy." Alex spoke lowly, calmly and soothingly. He held out his hand to the creature, and it slowly came to meet his hand. It made the pretense of sniffing it and nuzzling it. Alex petted it softly.

"See? You're fine. I'mma call you Doug. Is that okay, boy?" The creature silently hopped. It seemed excited as far as Alex could tell.

The lights suddenly came on. The creature hopped protectively in front of Alex. Alex looked around the creature. It was Alphys!

"Alex! It's you! C'mere boy. Come!" Alphys commanded the creature. It bounded to Alphys. She got it to play somewhere else. Alphys proceeded to turn back to Alex.

"Alex! I'm so glad you're- EEEP! Naked!" She covered her eyes.

Alex looked down at himself. A few pieces of burnt clothing clung to his otherwise unclothed body, "Oh." Alex managed.

"I've got some clothes in the lab. It's part of an anime costume, but they should suffice." Alphys said sheepishly.

***

Alex, after some debate and rifling through Alphys' custom made anime costumes, dressed himself in brown pants, black boots, a black turtleneck, and a brown leather jacket. He adjusted the neck of his shirt and exited the restroom.

"Oh. That actually looks pretty good on you." Alphys commented in surprise.

"Yeah. Thanks." Alex said.

"Sorry about the creature down there. I-"

"Don't sweat it," Alex held out her hand, cutting her off, "I know all about it already." He said.

"You...you do?"

"Yep. Is your computer on?" Alex asked.

"Uh-I-yes. Yes it is."

"Good." Alex nodded, going to it. He prompted Alphys to pull up her cameras.

Sans and Jasmine and Sans were quietly heading back to Snowdin. Undyne was sotting quietly at home. Napstablook was with her. The Temmies were all back at their village. Everyone looked more or less alright.

Then there was Flowey.

Flowey was back in the Ruins, where Alex had first fallen. His eyes were closed. He was basking in the faint sunlight. On the ground in front of him, the golden petals from the bed of flowers had been torn off and arranged into a message on the ground:

Come to me

Flowey's mouth moved occasionally, as if he were talking to himself. Alex took in a long breath.

"Have you let anyone know I'm alive? Alex asked.

"No, I just found out." Alphys answered, before realizing her answer was inaccurate. She didn't speak up though.

Alex nodded, "Can I get a message out to Jasmine and the others?" Alex asked.

"No. These cameras don't send messages." Alphys answered.

"But I can!"

Alex and Alphys both turned their heads in the direction of the voice. It was Mettaton, standing their in his humanoid-robot form.

"You've finished recharging already?" Alphys asked.

"Bad batteries can't keep me down for long, baby." He answered smoothly, walking towards them.

"This is probably the first time I've been happy to see you." Alex said. The two shook hands.

"Forgive my rudeness. I couldn't help but eavesdrop. Heard about your predicament, darlin'. I can get a message to your girl, and with this body, I'll get there fast." Mettaton said confidently.

"You won't run out of power again?" Alex asked skeptically

"Alphys fixed the bugs in my system, so I'm golden now. I'll never have to be that box again." Mettaton explained happily.

Mettaton turned his head, and his eyes fixed onto Jasmine on the computer screen. "Another human...heh. Is that the girly you've been looking to return to?"

"Yes."

Mettaton slowly nodded in approval, "She's pretty. Very nice. I look forward to meeting her." Mettaton said with a slight smirk. Mettaton quickly and dramatically swayed his way to the dor.

"Watch yourself, Metta. Jasmine saw your fight with Alex on TV. Her responses were very hostile." Alphys warned.

"I'm not worried, Doc. She'll come 'round. Besides, what's a story without a good plot twist?" Mettaton smirked before exiting the laboratory.

"He's a character." Alex shook his head once he was gone.

"He was designed to be. But he'll be a great help to you now that he's shown you respect. Maybe you two will turn out to be friends, with your mutual talent for performing and everything." Alphys thought.

"I'll put it on my bucket list." Alex shrugged, quickly transitioning to the next subject. "With everything out if whack now, Flowey's gonna wanna make his next move." Alex said.

"What's his plan, do you think?" Alphys asked.

Alex pondered this. He thought back to Gaster's story about the seven SOULs that King Asgore was attempting to collect. His eyes fell onto Flowey onscreen, and his wicked smile.

"He wants the six human SOULs King Asgore collected." Alex said.

"How do you know?" Alphys quickly asked.

"It's the only thing that makes sense. Everything he's done up to this point has been to give himself the sensation of power.

"With six human SOULs added onto his already inbalabced mentality, he'll have the means to play god." Alex said. Alphys released a long breath.

"What do you gather from Flowey's message?" Alphys asked him.

Alex shook his head, "I guess he's waiting for someone. That should give us some time. At least a little." Alex answered.

"What should we do with that time?" She asked.

"We make sure Flowey doesn't get to those SOULs. First things first, I'm going back to Snowdin to get Jasmine." Alex said, folding his arms.

Their conversation was interrupted by doorbell ringing. Alphys sprang to her feet, a deep pit forming in her stomach. "He's here." She said, rushing to the door.

"Whose here?" Alex asked. Alphys opened the door, and her tall guest made his quiet, humble entrance.

He was a tall goat male dressed in purple and golden garments and a black cape with large red shoulder pads. He had yellow hair atop his head, and a thick beard and mustache of the same color. On his head sat a crown.

Alex swallowed hard, standing on the other side of the hall with his fists clenched and his feet shoulder width apart.

Alex's eyes met those of King Asgore...


	15. Chapter 15

"You invited the king here?" Alex asked Alphys, never taking his eyes off of Asgore.

"I know that you were fully prepared to face me at the barrier, but Flowey's reported interferences have changed the game." Asgore said, fully entering the laboratory.

"What're you here for then?" Alex asked cautiously.

"Your cooperation is necessary for us to stop Flowey from obtaining the SOULs. We must band together, or else we will all fall." Asgore spoke.

"And then?" Alex asked, still skeptical.

"Until then, you can trust me to do what's best for monsterkind." Asgore said firmly.

"Fine. Where are the SOULs?" Alex asked after making his decision to help.

"The SOULs are in the castle, in a room several floors down from the barrier." Asgore answered.

"Okay. You and Alphys should head there then. I'll round up the others." Alex said.

"I've already sent word out to all Royal Guard members. Undyne and the rest of them should be with me at the castle shortly.

"Who is it that you need to retrieve?" Asgore asked, wrapping his other hand around the staff of his trident.

"The other human, Sans, and Papyrus." Alex answered.

Asgore was silent for a moment, "... Very well. Work quickly." Asgore advised, nodding and stepping aside.

"Thanks." Alex said before running out of the laboratory.

Asgore lowered his trident, turning to Alphys, "Dr. Alphys, you're one of my most entrusted staff members. As the royal scientist, I respect your intellect and I value your judgment." Asgore started.

"Aww shucks." Alphys blushed.

"Tell me, can the human be trusted?"

***

"Mom! Mommy? Momma, help me!"

A little girl's voice echoed through the Ruins. It bounced off the cave walls and the rubble of fallen structures.

The sound made Toriel's ears perk. A child needed her help desperately. She hurried to it, following the child's cries to where humans would always fall from.

Instead of finding a girl however, she found a talking flower.

Flowey turned to her with a wicked smile, "Mother mother mother. Two little syllables you've allowed to dominate your whole life. Right? Haha. One little word and you're beaten into submission, Toriel."

"Who are you?" Toriel questioned, fire emitting from her palms.

"Ohoh yes, that's right. We've never had the pleasure of officially meeting before..." Flowey's wicked demeanor gave way to a happy and jolly front,

"Howdy! I'm Flowey! Flowey the flower! Heehee. Golly, are you lost? Oh, you must be so confused. What is it you wanna get back to so badly?" He asked with a sly raise of his eyebrow.

Toriel's hands began to clench, but she suppressed her anger. "Your stinging words don't hold power over me." She spat. Flowey glanced sideways at her.

"Are ya sure? You and I both know that words hurt just as much as sticks and stones. The final words of your dead loved ones. The humans that told you they were leaving you...

"Frisk's promise of peace, and his actions to the contrary. Words kill down here, child, and we both know the Underground's nature of killing." Flowey concluded.

"What is that you want?" Toriel firmly questioned, maintaining her demeanor and getting right to the point.

"You already know that." Flowey rolled his eyes.

"The throne?"

"Pssh. The throne is just a big, fancy chair you sit in. No, I want bigger. I want more. SOUL power. That's good stuff. That's real power, and I want it." Flowey growled intensely.

"And what does telling me, ridiculing me; what does that accomplish?" Toriel asked, still on guard.

"I have my reasons, pain being the most prominent of them. You had a choice on who you loved more: your people, monsterkind, or the humans that killed your son.

"I find it only polite to let you know that you're soon gonna be shown how wrong you were. You chose the wrong side."

And with that, Flowey disappeared into the ground.

***

Jasmine sat sadly on the front porch of Sans' & Papyrus' home. Her elbows rested on her knees, and her chin on her palms. She sat very still, and was very silent.

The front door of the house opened. Papyrus sat by her. He tapped his knees awkwardly. "Erm...there's spaghetti inside, if you want some." He offered half-heartedly.

"I'm not hungry, thanks." Jasmine said quietly.

"Yeah, not so much me neither. My five star cooking just helps cheer me up. I thought maybe it'd help you too...?" Papyrus tried.

"I'm not in the mood for cheering up." Jasmine sighed.

The front door opened again. Sans came out this time. He sat on the other side of Jasmine. He leaned back and let out a long exhale. "You okay?" He asked.

"No." Jasmine and Papyrus both answered.

"The great Papyrus is supposed to be strong, with unshakeable resolve, like a mountain. But Papyrus isn't feeling too great." Papyrus lamented.

"I lost my world." Jasmine managed.

Members of the town started to clamor and gather around. They got louder.

"What's going on?" Sans thought aloud, standing up. He walked out and away from the house, his hands down in his pockets.

"What is it?" Jasmine mumbled to Sans.

Suddenly, Jasmine was pulled to her feet by Mettaton. She shrieked in surprise. He seemed to have appeared out of thin air! "Jasmine! I found you! Quickly!" He exclaimed in bursts, still in after burn from his run.

Realizing who he was, Jasmine pushed Mettaton away. Their surroundings darkened, and a light blue SOUL appeared over Jasmine's heart.

"Woah woah, hey girl, let's talk this out." Mettaton said.

"I've got nothing to say to you."

"I have something to say to you though! A message fr-"

Before Mettaton could finish his sentence, Jasmine chose Fight and attacked.

She charged at him, throwing a wild punch. Mettaton sidestepped. The crowd gasped. Jasmine, mimicking her boyfriend's fighting style, dropped down and clipped Mettaton's legs, tripping him.

When Mettaton fell, Jasmine got to her feet, her shoes slipping on the wet snow a bit. Mettaton started to sit up.

"Jasmine, listen!"

Jasmine kicked Mettaton right in the chest, knocking him down. The crowd suddenly began to press on. Jasmine screamed at them. "Get back! Stay back!" She growled, a deep rasp in her throat.

Mettaton swept Jasmine's legs out and rolled away. Jasmine quickly got up again. Jasmine lunged again.

***

Alex sat back and relaxed on his wooden board for a seat. In the back of the gondola, Alex stared down at the clear flowing water below him. The boat itself floated above the river, rushing through the air down opposite the current's flow.

Alex looked ahead at his gondolier. The row-man of the boat. Or perhaps the row-woman. Alex wasn't sure. The gondolier only had on a long gray cloak that covered all features.

"Tra la la. Snowdin, Snowdin, here we are in Snowdin." The gondolier sang. The gondola stopped at an opening in the long line of trees. Alex stepped onto the path, and solid land.

"Thanks." Alex nodded.

"Justa doing my job, sir."

Alex pulled 4G from his pocket and paid the gondolier.

"Oh, you're very kind. Goodbye now! Until we meet again. Tra la la."

They went their separate ways. Alex turned around and began speed walking to Snowdin. "This turtleneck is itchy." Alex complained aloud, tugging at the neckline of his shirt.

Alex hurried into the center of Snowdin as fast as he could, stopping in front of a decorated evergreen tree. To his left: no one. To his right: a large crowd was gathered.

"We've no time for this tiff, Jasmine!" Mettaton exclaimed, dodging Jasmine's attempt to tackle him. She threw a wild hook at him.

"Get out of here!" She screamed.

"Alex sent me! Alex sent me! He's alive!" Mettaton finally managed to shout quickly, ducking under another punch.

Jasmine stopped, but she didn't lower her fists. "How do I know you aren't lying?" She demanded.

"Excuse me. 'scuse me. Hey. Could ya'll move please? Gonna cut through here. Watch your foot. Wup! My bad, sorry." Alex pushed and squeezed his way through the crowd, finally coming into the center.

Upon his emergence, the Fight between Jasmine and Mettaton immediately ceased.

"You catch up quick, darling." Mettaton complimented Alex, relaxing and resting a hand on his hip. Jasmine walked to Alex in disbelief.

"Heyyy. You look very pissed off." Alex said with an awkward chuckle, fixing the left sleeve of her shoulder and covering it smoothly.

Jasmine smacked Alex hard in the arm. "You friggin-that wasn't okay! I thought you were gone!" Jasmine screamed at him, tears immediately welling up in her eyes.

Alex held his arms out, and she hugged him tightly. Alex held her close. She sobbed loudly into his shoulder. "I like your jacket." She said through her tears.

"Right? I've always wanted to wear a leather jacket. It's got that cool yet dapper look, like 'I'm a millionaire that rides a Harley'." Alex described.

Jasmine scoffed as Alex wiped her eyes. "You're stupid." She said with a smile.

"Yeah, but you love me anyways." Alex said, placing an affectionate hand on her cheek and wiping the last of her tears away. Jasmine nodded in agreement, kissing him. The townspeople 'aaw'-ed.

"Oh go home! Nothin' to see here!" Alex rolled his eyes. Jasmine chuckled.

"Jasmine?"

"Yeah?"

"Could you do me a favor?" He asked. Jasmine nodded. "Could you go easy and not kill the robot? He's on our side." Alex said.

"Okay." Jasmine said with a smile that she couldn't keep hidden. They held each other tightly.

"Alex! Kid! You're still kickin'!" Sans exclaimed, standing up again as the townspeople began to clear.

Papyrus got to them first, joining in the hug. "My friend! My best friend! It thrills Papyrus to indescribable extents to see you again!" He shouted happily. Mettaton shrugged and joined the hug. Sans did as well.

"Guys, let's suffocate Jasmine." Alex joked. Sans chuckled.

"WHY?!" Jasmine shouted, making everyone laugh. They all separated.

"So, now that hugging's out of the way, we've got some serious work to do now." Alex said.

Papyrus stood at attention. "Yes, sir! Nyeh heh heh!"

"The King has ordered the Royal Guard to the castle, and he wants all of us there with him. Flowey's gonna make a jump for the human SOULs." Alex quickly explained.

Papyrus gasped. "We get to fight along Undyne and the Royal Guard?! Oh my god! It's like a dream come true! Someone pinch me! Actually, don't." Papyrus changed his mind.

"Yeah. Anyways, it'll take all of us to make sure that Flowey doesn't get what he's after. Otherwise, we'll all be in real trouble." Alex continued. Everyone nodded.

"We're with you kid. Let's get moving." Sans said.

Quickly now, the group of five began their trek back to Asgore's castle. They took the gondola as far as the Marshlands since the Hotlands were too far and too expensive for all 5 of them.

"Wait guys." Alex said suddenly, after they had traveled some distance on foot.

"What?" Mettaton asked.

"We need to stop for a second." Alex said.

"Now? I thought we were in a hurry." Sans pointed.

"Nyeah. We can't keep the King and the Royal Guard waiting." Papyrus added.

"I need to have a word with Jasmine." Alex said, pulling her by the arm back down the path.

"What is it, hun?" Jasmine asked. They stopped by a broken statue with a music box playing from it and a black umbrella still propped open above it.

Alex shifted a bit, eyeing the others. "There's something I need to tell you. I haven't told anyone this yet. A man named Gaster told me this, and you need to hear it too." Alex said.

Jasmine nodded. "Tell me."

"Okay. So King Asgore and Toriel, they were married, right? They had a son: Asriel. Asriel is Flowey."

Jasmine's eyebrows rose, then lowered. "Wait, what do you mean by 'Asriel is Flowey'?"

"Gaster told me that something happened to the kid. He was killed by humans. He had a boy in his arms. His brother: a human.

"Here's my theory: the human SOUL is powerful down here. It can even survive after death. I think that when Asriel died, his SOUL got meshed with that human's SOUL.

"One or both of them must have been corrupt, because when the SOULs combined, Flowey's essence took over."

"You say took over... Wait, you think Asriel's still alive?" Jasmine asked.

"I think his SOUL is what Flowey's drawing his power from. If we can separate the two SOULs, maybe we can do away with Flowey and bring Asriel back!" Alex proposed.

"Alex...you know that I trust you completely, but I think that you're out of your depth here." Jasmine said, folding her arms.

"No no, I read a detailed history book about this stuff. I know it can be done, but I'mma need your help to pull it off."

"Then I'm with you." Jasmine said with almost no hesitation.

Before Jasmine could walk back, Alex grabbed her arm again. "There's one more thing...it'll only take one of us to break the barrier's seal." Alex said.

"I know." Jasmine nodded.

"Yeah, just...remember that. Keep it in mind." Alex advised.

Alex and Jasmine rejoined the group. However, before they could continue, they were approached by a frantic panicking Temmie.

"Helps! Helps!" She cried out.

"Temmie?" Alex asked.

"Alex! Ah! You need comes! Bad scary thing attack Temmie Village!" She explained hurriedly

"Take us there." Alex said.


	16. Chapter 16

Temmie led the five into Temmie Village. All the other Temmies were running rampant, tripping over each other as they fearfully tried to escape some unseen pursuer. Temmie gasped.

"My shop! Iz ruined!" She shrieked. Indeed, the Tem Shop, along with several other Tem homes, had been destroyed in the chaos.

"Guys, get the Temmies to safety! Jasmine, you with me," Alex instructed, quickly taking control. Everyone besides Jasmine scattered, doing their best to round up all the frightened Temmies. "Listen for someone." Alex said quietly.

The Tem Village became quiet. An eery soft wind blew through the town, but all was still quiet...

ROOOOAAAAGHHH!!!

Alex and Jasmine both flinched. "What the?!" Alex reacted.

Alex hurried to the Tem Shop, where a small furry projectile hit him in the chest with enough force to knock him onto his back. Jasmine ran over to him, taking the Temmie from his chest. She handed it to Sans as Alex slowly got up.

ROOOOAAAAGHHH!!!

In the Tem Shop, Alex could see the creature that was terrifying the Temmies. It was a frog monster, a Froggit, with square two-dimensional boxes that looked to be composed of ever-changing multiple-colored boxes attached to its flesh.

It roared again, stumbling and lunging at anything close to it.

"What're those things on it?" Jasmine asked.

"I don't know, but they're making it go crazy." Alex answered.

The Faulted Froggit caught sight of Alex and Jasmine. Their SOULs appeared, and they were initiated in a Fight. Their choices appeared before them. The Faulted Froggit screeched, and the boxes attached to it shot out at them.

With little time to react, Alex and Jasmine could only duck. The boxes attacked their choices, then returned to the Froggit. It leaped up clumsily as the boxes reattached themselves.

Alex and Jasmine stood. Their Mercy option now looked like one of the boxes attached to the Froggit. Alex attempted to choose it. His hand felt a burning sensation on contact. "Agh!" He cried out, quickly pulling his hand back. Jasmine attempted the same thing, with a similar result.

Alex chose Act. His choices were Check and Reason. Alex chose Check. The Stats read:

Attack: ~~  
Defense: ~~  
Cannot Escape.

The Faulted Froggit pounced on them. Alex and Jasmine leaped in opposite to dodge it. Its head turned back and forth to look at them. It seemed rabid. Jasmine took her turn, choosing Reason.

"Calm down," She spoke with soft soothing serenity, "We don't wanna fight you, and you don't wanna fight us, right?" She continued, taking a few small steps closer, "Just relax. We can figure this out peacefully." Jasmine extended her hands out slowly.

The Faulted Froggit turned fully towards Jasmine, roaring again with a strain of agony in its throat. It attacked Jasmine with a volley of boxes. Jasmine threw herself to the floor. Alex reached back into his First Aid pouch and pulled out a switchblade. He needed to cripple this thing now.

His options appeared. He chose Fight. He rushed silently to the Faulted Froggit. It began to turn around. Alex lunged forward, clutching the knife in his right hand. It didn't move.

Alex thrust the knife into the Faulted Froggit's back. It pierced the flesh of the monster. Alex yanked the knife out. With a low croak, it fell to the ground.

It was now weak: in critical condition.

Alex helped Jasmine up. Shocked beyond words, she said nothing as he pulled her to the feet. They turned to the Froggit. Its breathing was rapid and labored, shallow and desperate.

Now they could hear the sounds of sizzling. It was coming from where the boxes were attached to the Froggit's Flesh. It let out another pained croak. Two options appeared before Alex and Jasmine:

Mercy or Spare.

"I don't get it..." Jasmine shook her head, eyebrows furrowed in confusion. Alex stared down at the two choices. "Aren't Mercy and Spare the same thing?" She asked.

"Spare has never had its own box before. At least, from what I remember..." Alex said, still thinking.

Suddenly, the answer came to Alex. He raised up his knife slowly.

"We have to kill it." Alex said.

"Wha- No! We can't!" Jasmine shouted, grabbing Alex's arm. He pulled it free.

"Look at it, Jasmine. Look." Alex told her firmly.

Jasmine's eyes fell on the Froggit. The Froggit looked up at Jasmine with pleading eyes; she felt as if its eyes were piercing through her. It croaked in pain. The boxes etched itself deeper under the Froggit's flesh.

"If we let it live now, it'll die later, but it'll be much slower and much more painful. That's why it stopped us from using Mercy. It knows it can't escape from this. It'll never recuperate." Alex said.

Jasmine let out a shaky exhale. "This isn't fair."

Jasmine turned away, and Alex finished off the Faulted Froggit.

There was a solemn silence between Alex and Jasmine as they rejoined the group. All were quiet. The Temmies were all gathered in a circle, quietly sniffing and shedding tears of sadness.

"What happened?" Alex asked softly. Temmie turned to Alex, wiping her eyes.

"Bob 'z no more..."

Alex and Jasmine stepped towards the circle and leaned over. The Temmie that Alex had been hit in the chest with, Bob, was laying on the ground in the center, not moving and showing no signs of breathing.

Alex could tell that Bob wasn't dead yet because he hadn't turned to dust yet. The Temmies all took their turns saying something softly into his ear.

When they were finished, Sans stepped in and carefully scooped Bob up in his hands. He and Alex took Bob up and away from the others' view. Sans gently set Bob down when they far enough away. He and Alex knelt by him. Sans sighed.

"Such a shame. I hate seeing good folks go to waste before they should."

Alex shook his head. "Yeah." He agreed.

"I figured it'd be best to take 'im somewhere else when his SOUL gives out. Seein' it happen will just make 'em all worse." Sans said.

"Yeah. I hate crying." Alex said.

"I'm with ya on that one." Sans agreed.

Bob turned into dust, and his SOUL disappeared.

~~~

The trip up to Asgore's castle was a lot quieter after that. For a while, Sans left them. Since he was the fastest, he volunteered to take the Temmies back to Snowdin. It was some time before he caught up with them again. In fact, it wasn't until they reached the Hotlands that Sans joined them again.

"This way!" Papyrus said, turning left and walking up to an elevator. The group followed him. Papyrus pressed the Up button again. They waited...

Nothing happened.

Papyrus pressed the button again. They waited...

Nothing happened.

"I think you broke it, dude." Sans said.

"Broke it?! I used it properly!" Papyrus defended.

"You pressed the button too many times." Sans pointed out.

"It wasn't responding right away!" Papyrus fired back.

"You probably broke it with your relentless button mashing." Sans theorized.

"Nonsense!" Papyrus dismissed, pressing the button again. They waited...

Nothing happened.

"See? You broke it." Sans determined.

"I did not! Mettaton! Back me up on this!" Papyrus pleaded.

"Actually gorgeous, I'm with Sans on this one. You weren't all that gentle with it." Mettaton said.

"I'm sure the button has endured worse." Alex pointed out.

"See?! That's why Alex is my bestest friend!" Papyrus nodded.

"Can we please stop arguing about an elevator?!" Jasmine interrupted.

The group continued through the Hotlands, passing by Alphys' lab and working their way up to the Core. From there, they found a working elevator. All five squeezed in, and Papyrus pressed the button. The doors closed, and the elevator roared to life.

Soft elevator music played as they all waited...

"Little cramped in here, heheh." Alex said.

"Sans, your elbow is in my side." Jasmine said.

"Sorry." Sans stepped away from Jasmine, bumping into Mettaton.

"Hey, watch the plating. That's where my SOUL is." Mettaton said.

"Why's your SOUL all hanging out like that?" Sans asked.

"It's what's in season now, darling." Mettaton answered.

Papyrus turned his shoulders, accidentally smacking Alex. "Oh jeez, sorry." He said.

"Ugh. This elevator's too small." Jasmine complained.

"I hadn't noticed. Thanks for the memo, beautiful." Mettaton said sarcastically.

"Watch it, buddy." Jasmine fired back.

"Could we please not fight in the elevator?" Alex asked them calmly.

They went silent for a few moments...

"So, are we actually moving right now?" Sans asked.

"Of course we're moving!" Papyrus answered.

"Power in the Core could also be pretty low, you know. What with the whole world crumbling to pieces and everything." Jasmine pointed out.

"I don't know... Papyrus is the one who pressed the button." Sans pointed out.

"Ugh, don't start." Jasmine intervened, to no avail.

"Do you have something about my ability to push buttons that you would like to share, brother?" Papyrus challenged.

"I'm just saying that maybe there's something goin' on where you can't activate stuff." Sans said with a shrug.

"Such as?"

"The elevator, the other elevator, Alphys' puzzle, the Gauntlet of Deadly Terror, et cetera." Sans listed.

"Shut up." Papyrus folded his arms.

The doors finally opened, and all five of them poured out and stretched. "See? It worked! And to think, you doubted me." Papyrus said with a humph. Sans shrugged.

"I've been known to be wrong sometimes...maybe."

"Hold up you two. Check this out." Alex said.

The five of them found themselves inside a grand hotel with a fountain statue of Mettaton in the center. "This is the esteemed MTT resort? Seems a little...oh, how do I put this gently...?" Papyrus thought aloud.

"Looks like 'Grandma's attic' levels of worn out." Sans finished.

"Harsh, but yeah." Papyrus agreed.

The entire hotel lobby was empty, torn to shreds, and covered in both cobwebs and silky spiderwebs. "My beautiful hotel!" Mettaton shouted, his hands on his head in distress. Alex looked around.

"Let's keep moving." He said.

The five attempted to make their way through the webs, brushing the sticky silky strings aside.

"How delicious...two humans." A female voice echoed through the lobby.

Jasmine shrieked, grabbing Alex. "Eeeek! Spider!!!" Alex flinched. Looking around, he realized their were spiders all around them.

"Guys guys go! We need to get outta here now!" Alex shouted.

"Yeah!" Sans agreed. They all made a run for the back exit. Spiders began to lower from the ceiling, sending Jasmine into a panic. He pushed her to the front of the group and out the door first. Papyrus tripped and was caught in the webs.

Alex ran back for him. "Papyrus!!!" He called out. The doors closed, trapping Papyrus and Alex inside.

"Ahuhuhu! You two 're stuck in quite the sticky situation now." The female voice hissed with a mischevious giggle.

"Ugh, more puns!" Papyrus groaned loudly. The spiders wrapped him in a thick cocoon of webbing, leaving his head exposed so he could still breathe.

"I'm coming, Papyrus! Just hang in there!" Alex said.

"Not funny, Alex!" Papyrus growled.

"Sorry. That wasn't intentional. It slipped."

Down from the ceiling came the source of the feminine voice: a humanoid female spider woman with six arms. She wore a neatly pressed red dress, and her hair was tied back with two big red bows. Her three sets of eyes fixated on Alex. She giggled again.

"You must be by far the oldest human I've ever seen." She grinned.

"Let my friend go." Alex firmly ordered.

"Mmm mmm bossy bossy. You aren't in charge here. Alex, was it? Lovely. You can call me Muffet."

"Muffet?"

"Mhmm. I find it only proper to introduce myself and learn another's name before engaging with that person in any way." Muffet said smoothly.

"I'm not looking for a Fight right now." Alex shook his head.

"Oh I'm sure, but I'm afraid I am. I've heard all about you and your plans, and more importantly, your hatred for spiders. You humans either are frightened to death by us or you squash us underneath your feet. I think it's your turn now!" Muffet nodded.

The room darkened, and Alex's SOUL appeared on his chest...


	17. Chapter 17

"Alex! The webs are too thick, even for me!" Papyrus exclaimed.

"Pheh. Skeletons are better for decoration, not pastry batches. You, Alex. You will do nicely." Muffet said in a low tone, her eyes looking him up and down in a manner that made Alex feel like he was enduring an uncomfortable flirt.

Alex's choices appeared before him. He looked through Act: no options. He could only Fight or Spare. Alex sighed and picked Mercy.

His eyes widened. He had another option; one he had never noticed before. He could either Fight, Spare, or Flee. His choice was clear now.

"You want my SOUL?" Alex asked.

"Yes, your delicious SOUL!" Muffet clapped eagerly.

"Come get it!" Alex shouted, choosing Flee. He turned around and made a run down the nearest hallway.

"Hey! Hey, Alex! Where're you going?? I'm still stuck!" Papyrus shouted to him.

Muffet shook her head. "Such a shame. Although, he is the first human I've seen to turn running away into a strategy. Effective. Smart. I like it! Heh! Well, Alex, if it's a chase you want, then a chase you shall have!" Muffet exclaimed, using webs to swing after Alex.

Alex huffed and groaned, pushing himself forward. "I am not an Olympic runner." He muttered under his breath, speeding down the long hallway.

"Oh, Alex. Don't work yourself too hard now. I don't want you too tough when I bake you." Muffet giggled.

Alex changed directions, slamming his shoulder into a hotel door and knocking it open. He stumbled into an average-sized hotel room. Muffet was quickly behind him, throwing spiders at him like baseballs. Alex ducked under two and swatted away the third.

Alex's options reappeared, and he chose to Fight.

Alex stepped into Muffet and pushed her towards the wall. She swatted his hands away, using all six of her hands to strike Alex. Alex jumped back to avoid her attacks, making her stumble. He slammed his forearm into her collar bones, slamming her into the wall.

Her hands scratched at his arms, chest, and face. Alex growled, throwing a reflexive elbow across her face, hitting her hard.

Alex backed out of the room. Muffet, still dazed from the blow, stumbled and fell to one knee.

"Sorry about this." Alex said, running down the hall again. Muffet rubbed her head, slowly getting to her feet.

"Despicable," She growled, walking out into the hallway. She saw him still running down to the end of the hall, and speedwalked after him.

"Alright, honey. You wanna play 'spider and fly'? Fine. Go, my spiders! After him! All of you! Say hello to my prized pet, Alex!" Muffet spat, holding her hands out with her palms facing the ceiling.

An uncountable number of spiders filled the hall, crawling after Alex. A low growl and loud thumping also came closer and closer from behind Muffet.

Alex looked back at the swarm of arachnids. "Holy crap!" He exclaimed.

He reached the staircase at the end of the hall. He hurriedly opened up the door and ran up the stairs. The spiders seeped through the door. From the above stairwells, Alex's hands became spider-swatters with ninja-like reflexes as he hurried up floor after floor. The spiders coming from above weren't stopping him.

GURRAAAAAAGH!!!!!

Two flights of stairs beneath him were crushed into rubble as Muffet's prized pet crashed in: a giant spider monster with a body resembling that of a muffin. Alex took one look down at it and was stricken with true terror. The creature had boxes all over it.

It had been Faulted.

Alex was only a few floors above the Faulted Spider, and it was already beginning a destructive climb after him. Alex went into the fastest pace he could manage, taking the steps three at a time and swinging himself off the guard rails to keep his balance for each turn.

It was like a nightmare.

GURRAAAAAAGH!!!!!

The roar echoed and made the whole building rumble. Alex was 15 stories up now. The Faulted Spider was at 12 and 1/2. He was running out of floors, and a huge swarm of of spiders were waiting for him at the ceiling of the top floor.

They could see by Alex's running that he was in a full-blown panic.

Alex stepped into the hallway of the 19th floor, or rather, he leaped desperately through the door and hit the floor. The Faulted Spider rushed to the ceiling, crashing into and crushing a large majority of the spiders on the ceiling.

The Faulted Spider, along with all the other spiders and spider corpses, flailed and fell back down to the 1st floor.

"No! My beloved pet! What is it doing to my spiders?!" Muffet shouted in distress. Alex looked up.

Muffet was just down the hall waiting for him, but after seeing the clumsy destructive display her pet had just shown, she'd forgotten about him. Alex got to his feet.

"Your pet's been infected. The timeline of the Underground is tearing apart, and it's killing your pet. I can't Save it, and I can't stop it alone." Alex said. Muffet swallowed hard.

"I've no reason to trust you. Why should I believe what you're saying?" She demanded.

"Because if you don't, that thing's gonna kill you, me, all the spiders here, Papyrus, and God knows who else..." Alex answered firmly. Muffet tapped her foot uneasily.

"You don't know what my pet means to me, Alex."

"No, I don't. I've never had a pet. But I wouldn't be telling you to do this unless it was for the greater good. I have seen other monsters infected like your pet. It's in agonizing pain. It wants to die." Alex said.

A hand went up over Muffet's mouth. She gasped, anxiously placing her knuckles between her teeth. "My poor boy..." She shook her head.

Alex walked to Muffet and placed his hands on her shoulders. "I need your help, Muffet. Please." He begged earnestly. Her eyes stared up into his, and she was momentarily lost...

GURRAAAAAAGH!!!!!

Down the other side of the hall, the Faulted Spider burst out of the elevator shaft, kicking its legs and rearing its head to look for Alex. The boxes sank deeper into its body, and its roar sounded with more noticeable hints of pain.

It hurt Muffin's heart to hear it.

"Muffet, I need you to make your choice now." Alex said, starting to back away. Muffet's eyes remained on her pet as it worked like a livid rabid wild animal to get up into the hallway. She paused for a moment, then turned to Alex.

"Okay. Let's free your skeleton friend first." Muffet finally agreed. She grabbed his hand and pulled him back to where he had come into the hall. The stairs had all been mashed to dust. It was now only a long rectangular drop.

"Jump!" Muffet shouted.

Alex hesitated, then fought against it. He and Muffet both jumped. Down they fell, quickly gaining speed.

"Webs, Muffet! Webs!" Alex screamed, barely able to breathe while his eyes were blurring with tears.

"Not yet!" She shouted back, counting seconds under her breath. She squeezed his hand tightly.

Above them, the Faulted Spider had made a disorganized barbaric entrance. It began its own descent down the vertical corridor, about 9 stories above their heads. Alex's vision began to fade out, and all he could hear was the ringing of his own ears. The ground got closer and closer, rising to meet them.

For a split second, Alex saw a glimpse of something golden smiling up at him.

Finally, Muffet shot off her own webs, creating a landing pad at the bottom for them. They fell into it, and it safely caught them and stopped their fall. They struggled free of the web's stickiness, and hurried into the hallway of the first floor.

Behind them, they could hear the roars of the Faulted Spider.

BOOM!!!

The Faulted Spider crashed onto the floor behind them. It was slow to get up, prompting Alex to take the lead and pull Muffet along this time. They reached the lobby again. Papyrus was still in the air, suspended in his silky cocoon.

"Papyrus!" Alex shouted.

Papyrus flinched. "Nyeh! Heh? Huh?"

"You fell asleep?" Alex asked.

"Uh...no?" Papyrus answered as Muffet cut him free of the cocoon. He fell to the ground on both feet, "What did I miss?" Papyrus asked.

GURAGAGAGAGAGH!!!

"It's coming!" Alex yelled.

The Faulted Spider charged madly into the room, crashing through Mettaton's fountain. It tripped onto its side, its eyes fixated on Alex. The boxes were buried deep in its body now. It roared again.

"Oh my god!" Papyrus shouted.

"You two get to one side!" Alex instructed, backing towards the door he'd pushed Jasmine and the others out of. He took a deep breath.

"Alright come on! Come get me! Feeding time, big boy!" Alex yelled at the Faulted Spider, clapping his hands to get it invigorated. It got to all 8 legs, stamping and screeching at him.

"Come on!!!" Alex yelled at the top of his lungs.

"Bad idea!" Muffet shouted, but it was already too late.

The Faulted Spider charged at Alex full speed with a wild intent to kill.

"Alex!" Papyrus shouted, fearing that his friend was about to be crushed. Alex stayed close to the door, knees bent and hands on his thighs. He took a long deep breath to calm himself.

"Three...two...one..."

The Faulted Spider leapt at Alex. Alex made his move. Pushing off the door, he threw himself onto the floor. He slid on his side underneath the airborne monster. One clear, he pushed himself up and stepped against his own momentum, getting to both feet.

CRRAAAACK!!!

The Faulted Spider crashed through the door, as well as a large portion of the wall. It spilled out onto the path in front of where Mettaton, Sans, and Jasmine were waiting. Jasmine screamed, and the creature roared in response, making her faint. Mettaton caught her.

The Faulted Spider scrambled weakly to all 8 legs, wobbly from its hard impacts. "My spiders! Contain him!" Muffet commanded, stretching her hands out again. Spiders quickly crawled out of the MTT resort from the hole as well as from the windows of the hotel.

This made Mettaton cringe with disappointment.

The spiders crawled all over Muffet's pet, spinning webs in an effort to cocoon the creature. It fought against its own tinier brethren, but there were just too many. It was soon trapped in a big ball of webbing, unable to move and barely able to struggle. Muffet ran to it, and all the spiders followed her lead.

"I'm sorry, my boy..." Muffet said softly.

She and her spiders began to push it off of the path so it would fall into the lava pit below. Alex and Papyrus ran to help her, pushing as hard as they could. Alex felt his arm muscles strain and tighten as he pushed.

Over the edge and down the pith the Faulted Spider fell, plunging into the fiery lava and making a huge splash. It roared louder than ever, waking Jasmine. Everyone watched as it sank,and eventually its roars faded into silence...

Muffet sighed sadly. All the spiders stayed with her for a few moments, out of respect. Then they left her alone, retreating back into the MTT Resort to wait for Muffet's next summoning.

Jasmine was conscious and on her feet in time to see them all retreat. She shivered at the thought of so many spiders in one place.

"Sorry about your pet, Muffet." Alex said.

"It's...fine. There's nothing else that we could've done for him," She said before turning towards him. "You said that the timeline of the Underground is tearing apart. If that's true, then that means that neither me nor my spiders are safe here." Muffet said, clearly fearing the worst.

"Come with us! We're going to Asgore's castle to protect the 6 human SOULs and destroy the barrier!" Papyrus openly invited. Alex eyed him. He shrugged, "What? We could benefit from her friendship, not to mention her spider army!" Papyrus pointed out.

Alex shrugged. "It's up to you, Muffet. But we'd appreciate your help." Alex said to her.

Muffet nodded. "I'll help. My spiders will trail behind us, and we'll help your protect the SOULs." Muffet decided.

"Yay! More friends!" Papyrus clapped.

"Thank you. Come on, we'll introduce you to the squad," Alex led her to the others. Jasmine stepped to his side, her eyes on Muffet. "This is Papyrus, whom you've met."

"Nyeheheh!"

"This is Sans."

"Hey."

"Mettaton."

"Such a pleasure."

"Aaaand this here is Jasmine."

"Hi." She greeted from the other side, quickly waving.

"She kinda has a legit fear of spiders." Alex said.

"Ah. Don't worry, dearest. I play nice." Muffet said with a chortle.

The group of six all looked ahead. Ahead was an opening labeled: 'Core'. Inside was an elevator labeled: 'Asgore'.

"This is it, guys. We're here." Alex said.

"That elevator will lead us straight to the castle." Sans said.

"We've not a precious second to waste then!" Mettaton exclaimed.

"Right!" Everyone said in unison.

They all entered through the door. Papyrus pressed the 'Up' button, eyeing Sans as he did so. The doors opened, and they all got in.

"Oh, how roomy." Papyrus commented delightfully.

The doors shut, and up they went...


	18. Chapter 18

The elevator doors opened up, revealing a dull gray hallway. Everyone stepped out and looked around. The whole corridor was almost completely silent. Only light gusts of wind echoed off the walls. Alex swallowed and looked to his left.

He could see light. He walked towards it, and everyone followed him.

There was a shift amongst the group. Alex had felt it in the elevator. They'd all felt it. It was as if the higher the elevator had gone up, the more heavy their chests felt, and the more weight their mission seemed to really carry.

The fate of an entire race fell on their shoulders.

The six were now walking past an open view of the kingdom and the city below it. It was beautiful, and they all turned their heads in order to admire the grand sight...

But they didn't stop walking.

A silent dread and a solemn seriousness filled the corridor as the six went up the stairs. Each of their steps echoed around the giant hall. The wind blew insistently and yet softly, urging them along.

It was really beginning to sink in how close they all were to escaping...

They entered Asgore's throne room to find the Royal Guard spread all across the floor. Papyrus' gasp was the loudest.

"Oh no!" Papyrus exclaimed, running straight to Undyne. He knelt by her. She seemed okay, just knocked out.

"Mettaton, stay close to Jasmine." Alex instructed, kneeling by Undyne as well. Papyrus and Alex gently sat Undyne up, holding her head and supporting her back. She slowly regained consciousness, and coughed.

"Where...where were you guys?" She coughed again.

"We hit a detour." Alex answered.

"Yeah, no kidding. So did we." Undyne's hand went across her stomach.

"What do you mean?" Papyrus asked. He and Alex helped Undyne get up to her feet.

"We were blindsided from behind. Flowey never showed up. It was Asgore who attacked us."

"Asgore?!" Everyone exclaimed in disbelief.

"Yeah. He snuck up and went crazy. He still hits hard for his older age." Undyne favored her shoulder.

"Oh, don't give him all the credit. I did help." Everyone turned to the back of the room, where the voice had come from.

It was Flowey, staring at them from in front of Asgore's throne.

"I'm getting sick of this." Alex grumbled, stepping in front of Flowey.

"Well well well, this is it, huh? End of the road." Flowey smiled.

"What is it that you want, Flowey?" Alex questioned. Flowey made a pretense of shrugging.

"Same as always."

"Why don't you just leave us alone if you don't wanna help us escape?" Jasmine asked, folding her arms. Flowey giggled.

"Isn't it obvious? I'm the villain of this story. Does it look like I need a reason? I'm sick of you humans coming down here, acting like you're the most important beings in the world. You all are disgusting idiots. It's repulsive how self-centered you all are. How dare you act like a kind individual? Ya'll are aggravating. Liars. I hate it! I hate how you think you can fool people. I've no SOUL, and even I'm not as ugly as you on the inside." Flowey rambled.

Alex shut his eyes and shook his head. He let out a long sigh of genuine disappointment.

"What? What is that?" Flowey demanded with furrowed eyebrows and narrowed eyes. Alex did not respond. His lips tugged to one side of his mouth. He glanced back to Jasmine and the others.

"Stop that! Answer me!" Flowey shouted. Alex turned to him.

"I pity you, Flowey. Here I thought you just hated me because I'm a human, or that it was your birth that made you corrupt. Now I see it's because you can't feel or love. 

"You've no SOUL. All you have is SIN. It's...it's sad, really." Alex said, shaking his head again.

Flowey gritted his teeth, seething with hot anger. "Come into the barrier room. Your little shtick of holines comes to an end now!" Flowey disappeared.

"Watch out guys." Alex said, starting to make his way into the room.

"Wait." Jasmine said, rushing to him. They shared a sweet kiss before Alex entered the barrier room.

The door closed behind him. He found himself in a zero-space room flashing black and white. Asgore stood between him and the barrier, his back to him. Alex could see moonlight shining through the barrier. Indeed, now he could clearly see just how close he was to the end of his journey...

...but something felt wrong...

Asgore turned around. His face was completely blank. It had been replaced by a Faulted box.

"A-Asgore?" Alex stuttered in shock. Asgore was silent for a moment.

"It was nice to meet you."

Seven canisters rose from the ground. Six of them had SOULs floating in them. The final one was empty.

"Goodbye, AlFrlskaChaMosHaeLagh." Asgore's final words melted into a bunch of different names, none of which Alex made out.

Asgore pushed his cape back, revealing a large trident that he had been concealing. Alex's SOUL appeared and his options appeared, but this time he wasn't the one making the first move.

Asgore's trident turned red. He thrust it towards Alex, striking Alex's Mercy option and nearly stabbing Alex in the stomach. The Mercy option shattered and disappeared. Now it was Alex's move.

Alex looked through his options carefully. He could Fight. He could Check. He could Plead. He didn't need his Items yet. He chose to Check.

Asgore: Attack - 80. Defense - 80. Can't Escape. Memories?

Alex raised an eyebrow. What did that mean? How could that help him? Alex didn't have much time to think about it.

Asgore was attacking now.

Asgore lifted his trident. It turned blue in his hand. Alex jumped back to dodge his swing. He stepped in for a punch. Using the blunt of the trident, Asgore struck Alex in the chest and knocked him back. Alex fell onto his back. Undyne was right. Asgore does hit hard. Very hard.

Asgore raised up his trident, aiming the sharpened side of it at Alex. The trident shifted to orange. Alex turned his body to dodge the trident completely. The sharpened ends of the trident sank into the ground.

Alex turned his body again, kicking his foot into the staff of the trident to knock it out of Asgore's hands. His foot fazed straight through it. Alex got back to his feet.

Asgore's trident turned blue. He swung it at Alex again. Alex froze, and it fazed through his neck. Alex threw a hard downward right fist into Asgore's neck, making him stumble. Alex managed to kick him onto his back, and the trident slipped from his hands.

Alex made a run for the weapon, scooping his hands under hit and wrapping his fingers around the staff of the red trident. Alex stumbled, his arms straining to hold up the heavy trident. 

"Stay back, your majesty." Alex commanded, pointing the trident at him. Asgore continued to approach him without hesitation.

"It only takes one human SOUL and one monster SOUL to pass through the barrier. To pass, you must take mine. Take it!" Asgore dared. 

Alex swung the blunt side of the trident into Asgore's head, knocking him back down to the ground. He threw the spear as far away as he could.

"One human and monster SOUL? Why didn't anyone say that before?" Alex asked.

"It was my secret to keep; a lie I covered to feed monsters, that we could all be free."

"We can all be free, Asgore, but I need you to trust me."

Asgore's STATS appeared: Asgore is hesitating...

The Faulted box sank deeper into Alex's face, making him groan in pain. Alex looked through his options again. Fight and Act hadn't changed, and Mercy was still gone. 

Alex looked through his Items. It was full of Temmie Flakes, and other foods...

...and one piece of Butterscotch pie.

Alex selected the pie. It appeared in his hand, still warm and fresh. The smell of it made Alex's mouth water a bit. Asgore's head lifted. The Fault box began to shift. Alex held the pie out to him.

"It's a gift from Toriel. I want you to have it. Consider it my peace offering." Alex said. The Fault box began to fade away.

A shockwave went through Alex's body.

~~~

"Hey, Jasmine?"

"Yeah, hun?"

"Can I be honest about something?"

"Of course."

"If it ever came down to it, I would take a bullet for you."

"Don't talk like that, honey. That'll never happen."

"But if it ever has to, I will."

~~~

Asgore caught Alex and the pie.

"Sweet. Oh, how sweet! How touching!" Flowey cackled. 

"Eat up, my child." Asgore said softly, feeding Alex the pie. He bit it, feeling his strength bleeding out of his chest. His legs wobbled, and he fell to the floor. 

He swallowed.

Alex's eyes opened up fully. He suddenly felt fine. He stood up. The bullet hole in his chest was gone. He turned around.

Asgore was in the viney clutches of a giant hybrid plant monset with a head like that of an octopus with a TV screen face displaying Flowey.

All of a sudden, Alex felt very, very afraid...

Flowey cackled, his voice warping. "The human SOULs. They're all mine! Oh it feels so good! I feel... I feel... hee hee... like GOD!" 

Flowey tossed Asgore through the door and out the room. The door shattered into pieces, and Asgore was unconscious.

Vines grabbed Alex and lifted him into the air. He struggled to no avail. He couldn't get free. Flowey grinned.

"Keheheh. I have to hand it to you, Alex. You've made all of this possible. Your morality made all of this possible. If only you'd been like Frisk or the others. But no, you had the desire to be different.

"Now look at you. Maybe if you'd focused harder on your love for Jasmine, you wouldn't be here now."

SAVE FILE 1

A series of vines appeared and pierced through Alex's torso in several places, ripping through flesh and bone. Alex shook violently from the impacts. Blood exploded from his mouth. His head fell forward.

He was dead.

SAVE LOADED

Flowey tore Alex apart.

SAVE LOADED

Bullets riddled Alex.

SAVE LOADED

Alex was blown to bits.

SAVE LOADED

Vines went in for Alex. This time they were blocked by bones, fire, and shields.

"Stop it! Stop it, you sick freak!!!" Jasmine screamed in absolute fury.

Flowey dropped Alex's limp body, and he fell to the floor. Flowey turned around in time to get blasted in the face by Sans' blasters. Everyone attacked him mercilessly, using full force.

Flowey fell to the floor after taking much damage. Alex's body laid by Flowey's face. They all continued to bombard Flowey. Jasmine was the most ferocious, the sheer hatred in her SOUL making her every strike and blow deadly, detrimental to Flowey.  
Flowey's vines grabbed hold of all of them. Only Jasmine was able to break free.

"Stupid. Stupid. You're all. So! Stupid! You! You are. All! Mine!!!" Flowey's vines broke through the floor and quickly spread throughout the Underground. The kingdom was only so big, and now, Flowey had control of every monster.

"And...heheh... Here I thought that Alex was the only real threat I had to deal with. Seems you've been...holding out on me, Jasmine. You and him, him and you; ya'll strengthen each other. How sweet. Me hurting him finally drew you out when all else failed. How dramatic." Flowey slowly rose.

"Shut up, Flowey! You know, I'm a very forgiving person. I'm always giving people second chances, even when they don't deserve it. But you mess with Alex, I get pissed off. What you did...ugh! You deserve to die!!!" Jasmine spat angrily at him.

Everything suddenly went white...

Suddenly, in front of Jasmine, standing by Alex's body, stood a goat whose back was to her. He wore a green and yellow striped collared shirt and black pants. He looked tall enough to be in his early teens.

He shrugged his shoulders and cracked his knuckles before casting a glance backwards, his eyes glaring at Jasmine.

"Finally... I was so tired of being a flower."

The goat shifted into a much taller, much more sinister looking, much more powerful, much more intimidating figure. His clothes resembled Toriel's, baring the same symbol. He lifted his hands to his shoulders, and fire burst from his hands. He confidently shook his head.

"You don't scare me." Jasmine said firmly, filled with Determination.

"That's fine, Jasmine. I'll fix that. You'll beg for Mercy once you've really felt the wrath of Asriel Dremurr."


	19. Chapter 19

POWER

That's what Jasmine could feel. Energy surging through the room in powerful heat waves. The resonating power of every monster's SOUL beating as one; six human SOULs and an entire race, controlled by one person:

Asriel Dremurr.

It wasn't like anything she had felt before.

Asriel raised his arms, and something that resembled a heat-seeking missile that left a rainbow path shot from his palm. Jasmine shrieked, running to her right and throwing herself to the floor.

Not one of Asriel's attacks hit her.

"Keheheh. You know what I've noticed about humans since I've seen them come down here? They're always given the chance to strike first. What is it with that unspoken courtesy happening every time, huh? I think it's my turn now."

\- - -

"...my boy, you need to wake up now. You're still needed."

Alex slowly lifted his head. He felt so heavy. So weighed down. He couldn't move. He couldn't see. It was as if he no longer had the power, nor the strength to move his body.

"G...Gaster?" Alex groaned, faintly calling out to the voice.

All at once, Alex felt himself being pulled into the air. He looked below him, and he could see his own body still laying where it had fallen.

Now Alex could see the scene unfolding not far from where he laid: Asriel Dremurr and Jasmine in a mostly one-sided battle to the death. Jasmine's energy was desperately dedicated to staying alive long enough to land a blow."

"Jasmine!" Alex gasped. He watched her frantic dance to dodge Asriel's attacks. He was already fully aware of who was attacking her. He also knew that her chances were slim.

"No no, go that way! Agh! Duck! Oh crud oh crap okay!" Alex instinctively shouted out as if he were playing a stressful video game. Alex wrung his hands, his stress levels rising.

"She can't hear you, my boy, and even if she could, I don't think you would be helping very much."

Alex spun around. Gaster was standing behind him.

"What did you do?" Alex asked.

"I pulled your SOUL from your body temporarily. It's a process I've been granted to perform as a result of the unstable timeline. Truth be told, I wasn't even aware I could do this until now.

"I only have a little time; I can't maintain this for long. I need you to listen quietly." Gaster said. Alex nodded.

"Your theory on Asriel Dremurr: it was smart, genius even. And very, very close to what occurred, but not exact I'm afraid." Gaster said.

"No? What did I miss?" Alex asked.

"Nothing you knew, don't worry. It's a detail I failed to include in my explanation of what happened to Asriel. It has to do with monster tradition:

"When a monster dies, we have a special funeral custom. We spread the dust of the deceased monster over their favorite thing. For Sans, it'd probably be a joke book, and for Papyrus, a plate of spaghetti. You get the gist.

"When Asriel died, he was carrying the dead child in his arms, and the dust of both of them spread over the child's favorite thing: the golden flowers in Asgore's garden. Specifically, the one in the center. It was the first to grow, before all the others."

Alex was beginning to catch on.

"Years later, Dr. Alphys commenced her Determination experiments in an effort to find an alternative path to freedom; an interesting avenue to choose. 

"During her experiments with monsters in critical conditions, she tried injecting Determination into something without a SOUL: the flower. It was meant to be a surprise for Asgore..." Gaster gestured to Alex, urging him to finish.

"...so, the Determination was injected onto the golden flower that had the human's and Asriel's dust on it...and you said my theory was close..." Alex clapped his hands. It came to him!

"I got it! The Determination was like a-a defibrillator! It jumpstarted their SOULs, but it was corrupted by the raw Determination and their SOULs combined and manifested into Flowey!"

"Precisely!" Gaster nodded proudly.

"So then what you're saying is that Flowey was lying when he said he had no SOUL."

"Not necessarily." Gaster responded. Alex paused for a moment.

"He doesn't know."

"Correct." Gaster nodded again.

"Why do I need to know this?" Alex asked.

"Because, my boy, it could be the key to the happy ending your story needs, but only you can decide what happens." Gaster answered, placing his hand on Alex's shoulder.

\- - -

Jasmine slapped Asriel and pushed him back. He slid back, his smirk unfaltering.

"Not bad. You've held your own magnificently! And yet, I've only been using a fraction of my full power. As a warm-up. Heh. Now it's time to put you to the real test." Asriel stood straight and held his arms out...

Jasmine looked down at his STATS> "No punch, Act, nor Item will help you, nor will Asriel accept your Mercy, but maybe, somewhere deep in your SOUL, you can muster the power and the Determination to SAVE someone else..."

Jasmine lunged at Asriel, slapping an open hand onto his chest. "This better work. Don't let me down. Do it for Alex."Jasmine encouraged firmly, through gritted teeth. 

The battlefield shifted, and six opponents appeared in a line in front of her: her friends.

"Guys, listen to me now! You need to break free from Asriel's control! Don't let him overtake you this way! Think of Alex! How he showed you the good of humans, and you desire to help him, and me!

"Alphys: think of how it felt seeing Alex's adventure onscreen. 

"Undyne: think of how Alex Saved that child. 

"Sans: think of how Alex proved you wrong and how you so wanted to help me.

"Papyrus: think of your friend and that loving bond you to have.

"Toriel: think of that promise that Alex made you. How much he cared.

"Asgore: think of how much we've all sacrificed to be here now.

"Come to your senses!" Jasmine yelled at the top of her lungs. Asriel appeared in front of her.

"What're you doing?! Stop that!" He yelled.

The six of them began to stir, physically pulling themselves away from Asriel's attempt to cloud their minds.

"No! Come back!" Asriel begged in anger. The six of them all gathered behind Jasmine supportively.

"Alex was our friend too." Sans stated, shaking his head.

"Bah! So what if you refuse me? It doesn't matter! I'll just RESET everything! We can do this all over again! You'll all forget! Perhaps in the next life you'll be a little more open-minded," Asriel said, wagging his finger. A giant SOUL cannon appeared over Asriel's head.

"Until then, I can't just have you standing in my way. You've left me no choice but to destroy you. Don't worry though, you'll all be back home soon and this'll all be behind us." Asriel said.

The six human SOULs rose to the cannon.

"Speaking of behind: yours."

Alex jumped up and grabbed Asriel from behind, locking him into a choke hold.

"Help!" Alex yelled upwards. 

Jasmine and the others stepped forward, but Alex shook his head at them. He looked up again.

"I know you can hear me! Help me set you free! Come on." Alex said softly. Asriel threw him off.

Alex slid back and rolled onto his feet. The other six human SOULs followed him.

"No! You're supposed to obey me! This is all wrong!" Asriel screamed. The SOULs joined with Alex, and Asriel was no longer a being of great power...

Alex approached the young goat. From his height, Alex could assume he was in his early teens. He had on a long-sleeve green and yellow shirt, and black pants. His head was down, and he was crying. Little sobs escaped him, and his shoulders fell.

"Shh. There there." Alex said soothingly, hugging him and patting his back.

"Gosh, I'm a real crybaby." Asriel sighed, resting his forehead down on Alex's shoulder.

"There's nothing wrong with that. Jasmine's a crybaby too."

"Hey!" Jasmine shouted. Alex chuckled a bit. 

"Yeah, Papyrus cries a lot too." Sans commented.

"Untrue!" Papyrus defended.

Asriel smiled a bit. Alex and Asriel made eye contact for the first time. Alex saw no evil monster nor a SOULless, power-hungry tyrant...

He saw a boy who was scared to be alone, and lashed out because he was hurt. Hurt by the hand life had dealt him. Angry because he was lonely, feeling like no one understood him. That no one cared about him...

It was a feeling Alex knew all too well...

"I... I'm sorry, Alex. I'm sorry everyone. I... I really messed up badly." Asriel apologized, sighing heavily.

"Well, you only destroyed the Underground's existence." Alex shrugged.

"Yeah..." Asriel's eyes fell to the ground.

"No, that's good. In fact, it's perfect. Your damage is irreversible, which means we can now free monsterkind together." Alex grinned. However, Asriel's eyes furrowed.

"That's impossible. I can't hold this form for more than a few minutes with the monster SOULs. Soon I'll be a flower again." Asriel said hopelessly.

"With monster SOULs, yeah, but how about 7 human SOULs?" Alex suggested. Jasmine stepped forward, wrapping her arm around Alex's neck.

"Make that 8." She said. The others joined them.

"You've got monsterkind on your side too, kid." Sans said. Asriel swallowed hard.

"I'm scared." He admitted. Alex smiled a bit.

"Remind me to tell you a story later."

Alex grabbed Asriel and threw him at the barrier. 

"Go! Head for the barrier!" Alex yelled, leading the charge himself.

Everyone spilled out onto the summit of Mount Ebott. Asriel stood, feeling corruption taking over. He grunted in agony. Alex took full advantage of his power, grabbing Asriel's SOUL...

...and splitting it in half.

"Help guys!" Alex called over his shoulder. Jasmine and the others grabbed Asriel, helping to keep him still.

"Agh! Stop!!!" Asriel screamed. But Alex couldn't stop now. Alex threw the two sections away from each other. Asriel fell to his right, and another SOUL fell to his left.

Quickly, Alex released the other six human SOULs. He sighed heavily, feeling a large amount of the power drain away from him all at once.

"Why didn't you keep the SOULs? You could've had immense power!" Undyne questioned him.

"No one should have that kind of power. It changes you. God forgive me for even using it. They're going back to where they belong now." Alex said, looking up at the stars fading away with the stars.

"H-how t-t-touching..." A voice trembled.

Alex turned to his left. Flowey was there on the ground, uprooted. The others quickly looked back at Asriel, behind Alex. Asgore and Toriel quickly tended to their son. 

Alex picked up Flowey by the stem. Flowey looked broken and weak, but he managed to look up at Alex with that same disturbed smile, but his widened eyes were full of a silent fear.

"You must be feelin' like a real big shot now, huh? Heheh... The monsters are free to leave the Underground now that the boy's letting them go. You're with her again. You're the savior now, keheheh... 

"Now all you gotta do is kill me." Flowey stared at Alex with a disturbed sense of anticipation in his eyes. 

Alex shook his head. "I'm not gonna kill you, Flowey."

"Yes you will!" Flowey growled.

"No."

"I haven't learned anything from this! You can see it! I'll kill you! Everyone! Everyone you love! Piles of bodies and blood! I'll do it!" Flowey screamed, his voice breaking several times. Alex shook his head again.

"No." He said softly.

Flowey shook his head, his eyes filling with water. "Why? Why are you Sparing me? Why are you being nice? Where is it coming from? It's not natural. I don't get it. It doesn't make sense. I don't understand. I can't understand. I can't..."

Flowey shook himself free of Alex's grip, and inched back into the Underground...


	20. Chapter 20

The early morning sun began to rise over Mount Ebott. Its warm light peeked over the horizon, and streaks of colored light stretched across the morning twilight sky. It was the beautiful sight that Alex and Jasmine had retreated here to behold in the first place.

Now, they had new friends, as well as entire race, to share its radiant beauty with.

"Hey Sans, what's that great big ball of fire in the sky?" Papyrus asked.

"We call that the sun, bro." Sans answered.

"Wowie! I can't believe I'm meeting the sun!"

"This is incredible! Humans get to see this everyday?" Undyne asked.

"Yeah! The number of mediocre pictures of it on social media are astronomical!" Alphys exclaimed, scrolling through her phone.

Asgore and Toriel stood on either side of Asriel, their hands on his shoulders. Asgore gestured to Toriel. The two stepped aside for a moment, leaving Asriel so that they could talk in private.

"What is it, Asgore?" Toriel asked, folding her arms. Asgore coughed awkwardly.

"Tori..."

"Don't."

"Listen, Toriel. I know you dislike me, and you have the right to. But we have our son back; he shouldn't have to feel torn between two bickering parents. So, how about a compromise? For Asriel's sake, can we at least put our differences aside?" Asgore proposed humbly.

Toriel exhaled, shutting her eyes. She tapped her pointer finger against her upper left arm. "I suppose that's fair. On one condition."

"Name it."

"We share custody of him. He needs both his Mom and Dad as he continues to grow older." Toriel stipulated.

"Deal." Asgore nodded quickly.

The two shook hands.

Alphys glanced back at Asgore and Toriel before walking around to Undyne. 

"So...now that we're all free, what're you gonna do now?" Alphys asked Undyne. Undyne shrugged.

"Who knows? What do you wanna do?"

"Well... I just wanna catch up on anime, honestly." Alphys chuckled awkwardly.

"That doesn't sound too bad." Undyne said with a smile.

Papyrus stepped in. "Hey, Undyne! So are we still gonna train together? So I can become a member of the Royal Guard?" He asked.

"Actually..." Before Undyne could answer, Asgore walked over.

"Now that we're all free, there may not be any need for a Royal Guard anymore." Asgore said.

"What?!?! That's a stupid decision!" Papyrus shouted. Asgore raised an eyebrow.

"Nyeheheh, your highness." Papyrus tried to fix his statement.

"Alex. Jasmine," Asgore called them over. He placed a hand on both of their shoulders. "Now that monsters are returning to the surface, I have no doubt that the human race will have some strong reactions. 

"Would you two be willing to serve as our ambassadors, to help us deliver a message of peace?" Asgore politely entreated them. Alex and Jasmine looked at each other, surprise present on both of their expressions.

"What do you think?" Alex asked her.

"I think it'd help them a lot." She said. Alex nodded, then turned to Asgore.

"What's the pay?" He joked. She slapped his arm. Asgore chuckled.

"I'm sure we can negotiate some terms." Asgore smiled.

Alphys shifted over to Sans, who was on his phone. "So, uh, what're you gonna do now that we're all on the surface?" She asked. Sans silently shrugged, texting away.

"Dunno. Maybe Pap and I'll go travel a bit. Seems we're both out of jobs now. We can explore a bit." Sans answered finally.

"Who're you texting?" Alphys asked with a nosey sense of curiosity. 

"Someone I know." Sans answered. Behind him, Toriel's phone chimed, and she giggled.

"Good one, Sans." She complimented.

"Thanks, Tori." Sans chuckled.

Alphys glanced back and forth between the two of them. She decided to back out of the conversation.

Alex walked over to Asriel, who had been by himself this whole time, silently watching the sun rise.

"Hey, Asriel. How're you feeling?" He asked, patting Asriel's back.

"There's...well, a lot of things running through my mind."

"Like?"

"Well, like confliction about the things I've done. Sad about Mom and Dad. I can tell they're not like they used to be. I'm kinda down too that my brother couldn't be here...

"But mainly, I'm happy to be free, alive, and myself. So thank you for that." Asriel nodded.

"Don't mention it, man. I'll have Alphys rig a phone for you, and we can exchange numbers. You can talk to me anytime." Alex said, resting an arm around Asriel's shoulders.

"Thank you." Asriel said. 

There was a moment of silence between them.

"Alex?"

"Yeah?"

"Why didn't you kill Flowey?" Asriel asked.

"Murder is wrong," Alex answered with a simple shrug. "It isn't my place to take his SOUL."

"Flowey doesn't have a SOUL..." Asriel stated. The two glanced at each other, making eye contact again.

Their wordless exchange put the subject to rest.

Jasmine walked over to Papyrus, who stood by the cave, alone, with his arms folded. "Hey, Papyrus. What's wrong?" She asked.

"Heh... Asgore says there may be no more need for a Royal Guard anymore. I'd worked so hard to be a member all my life. What do I do now?" Papyrus sighed.

"It's okay, Papy. Maybe you won't be a Royal Guard member, but you'llfind a new path. Maybe you'll be a bodyguard for someone important; maybe Asgore's bodyguard?" Jasmine suggested. Papyrus lit up.

"Yeah! I could do that," Papyrus said, standing proudly, "I would be the best bodyguard ever!"

Jasmine smiled and walked over to Asgore, who was also by himself. He was further from the group, looking down the cliff face of the mountain. She could see in his eyes that something was eating at him...

"Watch out. Papyrus wants to be your bodyguard now." Jasmine said with a chuckle.

"That may actually be a good alternative for him. At least it'd be a job for him similar to what he wanted. Thank you for that." Asgore said, nodding his head a bit.

"What's the matter?" Jasmine asked. Asgore shrugged and sighed.

"I... I have some things on my mind is all. It's upsetting for me the way Toriel treats me now. The way she talks to me, looks at me. And now we share custody of our only son.

"We aren't the happy family that we once were. I'm ashamed to say that I've failed as a husband and a father." Asgore's head sunk sadly. Jasmine placed a comforting hand on his arm.

"It's not an easy situation to be in. Alex tod me about you two. The loss of children can and is enough to break a marriage apart. My suggestion is that you move on, and don't dwell on it.

"Just try to be happy with yourself. Make friends. Don't isolate yourself either.

"As for Asriel, you haven't failed him. You can still be there for him as his father. Be that strong, loving role model for him, because every boy needs that in his father. Alex also knows a thing or two that'll help Asriel cope."

Asgore glanced over at Alex and Asriel. Alex's arm was wrapped around his son's shoulders. The two of them were standing together, laughing together. 

"Perhaps Alex could become like Asriel's brother." Asgore thought to himself. That thought made him smile.

"Thank you. I'll keep that in mind."

Undyne walked over to Alex and Asriel. "Alright, break it up, lovebirds. It's gross." She teased. Alex chuckled. 

"Hey kid, I wanna ask you something." Undyne said to Asriel.

"Hmm?"

"How'd you like to train with me? We'll make you strong!" Undyne yelled. 

Asriel hesitated, glancing Alex's way. Silently, his gaze conveyed his doubt about what answer to give. Alex nodded with an encouraging smile.

"Alright. Sure." Asriel agreed.

"Awesome!" Undyne exclaimed with an enthusiastic fist pump.

The noise of a crowd began to echo out of the entrance to the Underground. Monsters began to pour out of the tunnel, happily rejoicing in the sunlight. Asgore led them out into the forest below. Everyone else except Toriel followed them, per Alex's request.

"What is it, my child?" Toriel asked him. Alex wrapped an arm around Jasmine.

"Jazzy and I were talking. We'd like to make an offer. We know that you've been alone for a long time, so...how would you like to stay with us?" Alex asked. They both smiled. Toriel's eyebrows perked in surprise.

"You want me to...stay with you?" She repeated slowly. They both nodded.

"I don't know..." Toriel said hesitantly. "Are you sure?"

"Of course!" Jasmine exclaimed.

"So we pay a little more on food during shopping trips. We both have guest rooms back home. Plus, we'd like to." Alex said.

After carefully considering it, Toriel agreed.

"Great!" Jasmine shouted happily.

"That means I'll be following you home then?" Toriel asked.

"Yeah, of course. The cabin's down that way. Just give us a minute." Alex said. Toriel nodded and started down the path.

Alex and Jasmine hugged each other tightly, and kissed for a brief minute. They mostly just held each other silently.

"We should go before Toriel gets lost." Jasmine said.

"Right. Let's go." Alex agreed.

Hand in hand, Alex and Jasmine went down the path...


	21. ? ? ?

. . .

So that's it...

That's how you leave me?

I'm sure you feel great about yourself, right?

You must feel so good.

The power to grant a SOUL onto someone.

You must think that's such a blessing...

How dare you?

How dare you show kindness?

How dare you show Mercy?

How dare you curse me with these feelings?

. . .

Do you know what you've done to me?

Do you care like you did with everyone else?

I...am...cursed...

I feel...desires that I've never felt before.  
The hope of basking in sunlight.

The desire to have...

Companionship? Friendship? Love?

How could I have had the sick pleasure of seeing a SOUL with no purpose?

When I myself want one now.

What is happening to me?

How could I have been so blind?

. . .

I hope you're happy with yourself.

 

***

Alex sat up in his bed with his eyes suddenly wide open. He rubbed the back of his neck slowly. He could feel that he was in a cold sweat. His hands trembled as they fell into his lap. He slowly and stiffly got out of bed. His back felt painfully tight as he stood up and slowly walked into the kitchen.

As he entered, he smelt the scent of butterscotch pie hit him like a warm wave.

There Toriel sat in the cabin's kitchen, leaning on a table not far from the oven. He was surprised to see her up. She sat quietly with her hands resting on the table, wearing a light purple nightgown made of silk.

As Alex entered the kitchen in his baggy pajamas, Toriel's head perked up and rose. Her eyes fell on Alex and widened in surprise on seeing him. Then they narrowed in concern when she saw the condition that he was in...

The skin on his face and arms glistened with cold sweat, and his neck reflected the light of the lamp hanging over the kitchen table as he came around to sit with her.

"I'm sorry, my child. Did I wake you?" Toriel asked softly.

"No." Alex answered gutturally, shaking his head.

"Are you alright, Alex?" Toriel asked, still concerned.

"Yeah. Rough dream...woke me up." Alex answered, clearing his throat a bit.

"What was your dream about?" Toriel asked.

Alex's gaze fell as she asked this question. He clasped his hands into his lap, saying nothing. He sat still, nearly motionless. His eyes practically glazed over as he seemed to completely check out of the conversation.

"Alex?" Toriel called to him. He did not respond to her. His mind was clearly elsewhere; and whatever it was, Toriel could see that it was clearly weighing heavily on him, haunting him...

Toriel stood up from her chair, walked around to Alex and placed her hands gently down on Alex's shoulders. He flinched in response, all at once coming back into full mental focus and looking up at her.

"Welcome back, Alex." She said, rubbing his arms and kissing him gently on the cheek. Alex's eyes darted around, as though he had been woken up suddenly.

"Huh? Sorry, what?"

The oven timer went off just then, and Alex stood up, pulling himself out of Toriel's arms. She made her way around the table again to take the butterscotch pie out.

"You seem stressed. Are you sure you're okay, Alex? You're worrying me." Toriel said, placing the pie on the counter. It slipped from her mitt, causing the pan to clatter loudly against the granite countertop.

This set Alex off.

Alex grabbed onto Toriel's wrists, pushing her back against the countertop. She bumped back into it, and Alex continued to push her backwards. Toriel summoned fire from her hands shortly thereafter, trying to get Alex to step back.

There was no expression in Alex's eyes, and this scared her more than anything.

"Stop!" Toriel said firmly, finally pushing Alex away from her.

Alex stumbled back against the table, hitting his side against it. He began to tremble again, freezing up and then shaking his head as if he had been in a trance. Jasmine came out of the bedroom, hearing the commotion. She stepped out just in time to see Alex rush out the front door of the cabin.

"Alex!" Toriel raised her voice, following him out. Jasmine came out just behind her.

They found him on the front porch, planted in a rocking chair. He sat with his back hunched forward and his elbows on his knees, wringing his hands together. He had his head down towards the ground. Jasmine walked over to him, kneeling down in front of him.

"Alex?" She asked softly. He didn't answer her either. It was like he wasn't even paying attention. She shook him gently, and he flinched again.

"What? What?" He asked, looking at her.

Jasmine looked him dead in the eyes...

"Get your jacket, babe. We're going to the hospital." She instructed him gently.

"Y-Yeah," Alex said, getting up. He passed by Toriel, then turned back around to face her. "Sorry..." He said lowly, pausing awkwardly before going back inside.

"What happened?" Jasmine asked Toriel, hugging her arms. Toriel shook her head a bit.

"I'm...not sure. He woke up very sweaty, something was clearly on his mind. He attacked me." Toriel summarized.

"He attacked you?" Jasmine asked in shock. Toriel nodded her head solemnly, "Something is very wrong." Jasmine muttered to herself.

Alex walked back out onto the porch with a black winter jacket on now. He kept his hands buried in his coat pockets. He looked exhausted now, and simply drained. Both Toriel and Jasmine could see it.

Jasmine hugged him tightly, wrapping her arms around his neck comfortingly. Toriel gave him a hug as well. It seemed to be the only way they could convey their support as well as their concern. Alex stood still, leaning against them but not returning the   
embrace.

"Come on, love. Let's go." Jasmine said, hooking her arm with his and walking him to the car...

 

Coming Soon  
Undertale 3: Redemption


End file.
